Hurt
by bloodandvanity
Summary: Remy and Rogue have never met but they’ve both been captured by Trask and have been in Area 51 for about a year. They have cells next to each other and start to have conversations through the wall to keep their sanity intact ROMY! maybe mild cursing
1. Agony

**AN: Right this is just something that randomly came to me while listening to Hurt by Nine Inch Nails and studying for a Chemistry exam. It probably sucks and I haven't a fully formed idea where its gonna go but my general outline is below. It has nothing to do with the song I was just listening to it at the time so I thought I might randomly mention that, it's one of my lovable quirks. Erm…I'll attempt at accents but I might not remember all the time and I really apologise for the poor French as I may have to resort to an online translator as languages aren't really my forte. What else…Oh yeah…PLEASE REVIEW! I'm really gonna need the support on this one as it's my first Evo fic and I'm just randomly posting it to see what people think and if I should continue…Well I think that's almost enough from me, but don't forget the summary below. Hope you enjoy it ******

**Disclaimer: the only thing I own is an undying love for Remy other than that everything is owned by Marvel etc.**

**Summary: Remy and Rogue have never met but they've both been captured by Trask and have been in Area 51 for about a year. They have cells next to each other and start to have conversations to keep their sanity intact. How will their relationship develop and will they ever escape? If you haven't guessed by now this is a ROMY fic.**

_~The pain of the mind is worse than the pain of the body~_

_~Publilius Syrus – 1__st__ Century BC Roman author~_

The bright light seared his retinas, after all the testing they had done on his eyes the scientists had realised his preference for the dark, shadowy places that protected his sensitive eyes so they had insisted that to keep him even more incapacitated while in his cell that the lights should be the brightest they could find and _Merde_ did it hurt! But still over the constant screaming stream of curses that always when through his mind while stuck in the hell that was Area 51 he heard a female voice cry out in pain through the wall he was slumped against.

"'Ello? Is there someone dere?" his scratchy voice called through the wall, to be able to talk to someone, to not be alone in his torment would make it slightly more bearable, and something in that voice, an innocence that he couldn't explain called out to him and he wanted to help her, to stop her from hurting the way he hurt. The physical and emotional scorching pain combined with crippling exhaustion we're enough to kill you, but of course, Trask wouldn't allow that. If they died, although they were meaningless filth, it would cost more time and money to capture more of them and Trask was a member of the government so he definitely didn't want unnecessary costs that could have been avoided by treating the ungodly creations with just enough humanity to survive from one day to the next, well just about, they didn't have to be fully conscious all the time. Remy LeBeau the caged Prince of T'ieves called out again willing the girl to answer to at least be healthy enough to do that, look how desperate he became with just a suggestion of contact, of life other than pain and misery.

"Wha? Who sa?" A slightly drugged and pain laded southern voice answered through the wall. Remy let out the breath he had been hold in, why he had no idea he had never talked to this _femme_ before, had no idea that she even existed but now his very survival seamed to hang on the fact that she had answered, she was alive, and had a very sexy voice…WHAT! How could he think that at a time like this? Sometimes he thought his lifestyle was too ingrain and just flared up at the most inopportune moments just to torture him even more than Trask and his evil mad scientist lackeys.

"You OK in dere _chere_?" He questioned.

"Well le'see for the past year Ah've been drugged, beaten, experimented on, leered at and poked and prodded in every which way imaginable, how'd ya think Ah'm feelin'?" replied the voice, she had sass even in this godforsaken situation she still had strength and he felt heartened by that is she could survive it all and still be able to joke like that then so could he! He was not going to die broken and begging, he was going to go honourably and every inch the royalty that he was. God talking to this girl was good for him they'd only said about five sentences to each other but he felt almost normal while trying to think of and appropriately witty answer to her sarcastic question. He chuckled albeit painful it was good to feel something other than pain.

"Sorry _chere, _just a little overwhelmed that I can talk to someone other dan de psycho doctor boys"

"Ah know what ya mean, sorry, just, not as trustin' as ah was yunno?" Her voice was quickly becoming clearer and loosing the drowsy quality induced by the drugs

"I know, how bout we introduce ourselves, Remy LeBeau at your service _Mademoiselle" _His eyes were still clamped shut and he realised that he was talking through a wall but he still had the urge to tip his imaginary hat to the girl that was going to be his was of saving his sanity from the sadistic scientists that wanted to destroy him.

"Rogue" He could hear the smile in her voice and a ghost of his old smirk touched his own lips

"Jus' Rogue?"

"Yeah, Jus' Rogue"

"Well, Jus' Rogue it's a pleasure to talk to you, I woulda gone crazy soon, I'm sure" And they both realised that they were using each other for the survival of their sanity and they both accepted it, an unspoken agreement to help each other last for as long as they could

She chuckled and replied "Ah think ya already are hun"

**Translations:**

_Merde – _Shit

_Femme – _girl

_Chere – _Dear one

_Mademoiselle – _Miss

**PLEASE PRESS THE PRETTY BUTTON BELOW AND REVIEW!**


	2. Broken

**AN: so people seemed to like the first instalment so I'm gonna keep going for as long as I can. For all who like the angsty stuff and Twilight then please check out my other story Never Think. As a side note and by request from a friend: I 3 LMR (pls excuse my odd friends)**

**DISCLAIMER: Unfortunatly I don't own anything and never will *dissolves into uncontrolable sobs as she can never have Remy***

**Broken**

~ Pain is temporary it may last a minute, or and hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever~

~Lance Armstrong, American cyclist~

Pain gripped at his heart but it wasn't inflicted by the drugs or procedures, no this pain was labelled anxiousness. Worry for the southern _femme _that he had been conversing through the wall with for about a week now, that he guessed from the feeding schedule and if the scientists were distracted enough they would mutter the date when taking notes, from this he had learned that he had been there about a year, give of take a month.

The gurney had come for Rogue earlier that "day" and she hadn't returned yet, she had been gone longer than usual and if something had happened to his _chere _then he was unsure as to what he'd do. He needed his river rat, to survive the cruelty to the place. He was attached to her and he didn't fully understand why, they hadn't told each other anything lasting, anything that could be overheard and used against their lives on the outside as well as in their little torture sessions disguised as experiments. He regretted that he wanted to know everything about the _fille _for her to know everything about him, to have someone to remember them by if for some reason they didn't continue to survive, to not have himself fade away, _mon Dieu _he didn't even know the _femme's_ real name.

The rattling from somewhere to the right announced that the gurney was returning. Remy scrambled towards their wall ready to make sure that she was OK. Then again it might not even be her, it could be one of the other hundred mutants they kept there. When the rattling ceased and didn't pass by his cell he knew it was her He wanted to scream "ROGUE SPEAK ARE YOU OK!?!" but he knew that cause the thug guards to come to "quieten him down". So he waited until they unbuckled her restraints, dumped her onto the floor of her cell and rattled off back down the hallway. Leaving behind the small sound of sobs coming from the broken southern beauty in the cell in which they had discarded her.

"Remy? Ah can't do this anymore Remy…"

"What d'yu mean _chere _what dey do? Come on tell me" He was worried. She'd never come back like this before, she always took what they gave and then fought back, always fighting, never giving in, and then joking with him about it afterwards always sarcastic and strong. Now she was drained, shattered, dispirited and it scared him, he couldn't loose her spark and neither could she because if she lost that then she'd soon she'd disappear altogether and she couldn't die in this awful place, she deserved to die, old and surrounded by loved ones, not broken and bleeding in a government owned facility created to find a way to destroy all mutants.

"Ah can't…"

"Fine, tell me 'bout ur home, _tu famille…_take ur mind offa t'ings you know t'ink happy t'ings" _Mon Dieu _you sound like a shrink, go to a happy place, what's wrong with you…I just want her back and fighting, if I loose her then I don't think I'll last much longer…

"Ah'll try Remy…

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW OR I may have to go and put you in Trask's laboratories myself...no really I'm not that mean...most of the time**


	3. Crushed

**DISCLAIMER: Once again I don't own any of this apart from the plot which if I do say so myself I'm pretty proud of.**

**AN: Thank you to all those who have reviewed, I'm sorry if it goes slowly from here but they've got to relive their pasts to each other and really begin to rust each other etc. but don't worry they will meet! It just may take a bit of time, and in reply to some of the amazing reviews I've gotten: I will try to lengthen the length of the chapters but I'm in the middle of my exams, I no terrible excuse but as soon as they're finished then I will be able to devote my full attention to ROMY and all it's wonderful angst. Don't worry I won't let them take you I'll distract them and run we must save that 6th toe!!!**

Pain is deeper than all thought; laughter is higher than all pain~

~Elbert Hubbard, American writer, 1856-1950~

"Ah don't know who ma real parents are, ah'm adopted but 'til Ah was seventeen Ah stayed with ma foster mother Irene, Ah found out later that she was a mutant to and could see the future. When ma powers came Ah ran, it wasn't 'xactly pretty, an ah got picked up by dis woman, called 'erself Raven Darkholme. She gave me a place ta crash, this old house, it was fallin' apart, but me an da guys dat lived there loved it, firs' place we'd had since we got our powers that we could call home an not be afraid, yunno?"

"So dis your family _chere? _What they like?" He liked that she had somewhere outside where she could connect to other people and not live in the constant fear that constantly shrouded them now.

"There were four of them, always regularly getting on mah nerves. Lance fancied hisself the leader of are lil' motley crew and was always given orders, but you could get him riled up real easy, and he'd loose his control real quick, he made earthquakes ya'see. Then dere's Freddy, he was disgustin' always eating some crap, and not really the brightest crayon in da box but he could be a right doll, when Ah was down a couple of times he'd always give me some of his chocolate form his personal stash, lahke a lovable lil' brother dat's tree times the size of everyone else. There was also Toad and Pietro, Toad was slightly more disgustin' than Freddy, showered once a month, ate flies and irritated the hell outta me but he was loyal as you can get. Pietro was almost the complete opposite, obsessive compulsive 'bout his looks, thought he was God's gift to women and would betray his own grandma if it would mean his dad would pat him on the back some, but he always meant well in his twisted little way. But no, dere not ma family anymore…" The smile in her voice was evident but as she said that last sentence it faded and she became despondent once more.

"Why _chere?_" Hoping desperately that the answer would be happy and that she'd come back to him once more.

"Ms. Darkholme was jus' usin' me for mah powers so Ah left an' went to this school for mutants, Ah never forgave mahself for leavin' dem though, they were mah family and Ah missed that ah could be mahself with them. At mah new place Ah always felt as though Ah was expected to change, don' get me wrong, Ah had a great life there, family an friends but they didn' always quite get it, neva quite on da same page. Only guy who eva came close was Logan." She seemed happier now and her talking helped take his min of the pain of the lights and the discomfort of the cell. He was able to imagine her with the boys at their house watching TV or heading off to school. He had perfect characters in his mind of how the boys should look but his _chere _she was just a suggestion, a whisper built around her voice, the voice that he had become addicted to. "Tell me about _tes amis."_

"Why Swamp rat?" the defiant voice on the other side of the wall challenged "You ain't told me notin'"

"Okay _chere _for every question o' mine you answer Ah have to answer one o' yours in return deal?"

"_Oui, _Cajun, so shoot, what about your family?"

"Ah don' know mah parent either, mah mutation is mo' obvious an dey probably lef' meh t'inking ah was a demon o' somt'ing. Lef' meh on da streets fendin' fo' mahself"

"Ah'm sorry Remy," He could tell that Rouge sympathy was genuine and this warmed him more than he could imagine, even though she was in pain and had been through something terrible she still had it in her heart to feel for him.

"'s not'ing, anyways when Ah was 'bout ten ah got caught pickin' da pocket of a guy on da streets. Said 'e was the leader of da guild of T'ieves an he took me in. Jean-Luc adopted me, treated meh as 'is own. Ah grew up wit' 'is son Henri, ah used to follow him everyw'ere 'es a better man den ah'll eva be but ah'm a better t'ief. There's also Emil an' Etienne, Emil's a real joker, always playing pranks and teasin' everyone while Etienne's quieter, he's younger than us but probably smarter, good with computers but he'll joke around with all da rest o' us. Mah _Tante Mattie _keeps us in line though, you don' wanna get on the wrong side o' her, bu' she loves us an' her cookin' is the best thing you'll taste anywhere's, one day, once I got you out o' here ah'll take you home to N'Awllens an' get her to give you some o' here world famous jambalaya"

Rouge laughed, it wasn't bitter or laden with sarcasm as normal it was a full laugh making Remy think of sunny days on the bayou lying in the grass watching the sunlight glint in the water and feeling the warm caress of its rays on his face. The sudden bang on the door to Rouge's cell and the yell of "Quieten down mutties or I'll make you! Lights out in five minutes!" brought him back to reality.

"Ah think it's time to say g'nite Swamp rat…"

"G'nite _chere_"

"Nite Remy"

**REVIEW!!! I am using my amazing powers of psychic control on you to get you to press the lovely green button and REVIEW!!!**


	4. Distress

**DISCLAIMER: *pout* Remy belongs to marvel not me, same with the other characters, but I've hijacked them and am forcing them to do my bidding MWAHAHA! HEY! Don't judge me for it, you're the ones reading so you are just as evil as me cause you're enjoying it to (my god I just realised I'm insane as well as evil, I should look into taking over the world, anyone looking to be one of my acolytes?) **

**AN: I no it's been a whole 2 days I apologies but I had an Ancient Greek exam and needed to work…unfortunately I kept getting distracted and writing down every idea that came into my head for this story so now my room is covered in post-it notes and I'm pretty sure I flunked my exam. Oh Well! Remy is definitely more important! Anywho… Ah hope you guys like this chapter it took ages cause I kept lengthening it and then editing it again it was a vicious cycle, I'm pretty sure the psyches in my head were battling for control and that's why I couldn't decide… but I'm happy with it now she says as she again edits it for the 400th time. NO I MUST POST IT NOW!**

** P.S. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE GREAT REVIEWS KEEP THEM COMING! They feed my mutation you know, if you review then my power of writing amazing angst comes into effect!**

~If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.~ ~Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor, AD 121-180~

The needle comes down, lowered by the wiring mechanical arm, I cringe away from it, attempting to sink into the slab I've been strapped to. But still it comes closer and closer. I had been selected for the first time in weeks, recently they've been really interested in Rouge, everyday they come for her, everyday we pray together hoping that for once they will pass her by, give her some peace. Today they finally did, they came for me.

The needle finally reaches its destination, my eye. It has been taped open so that I can't stop it or hurt myself by trying to blink. But then there is only pain, excruciating, electric jolts shooting from the needle to my brain and the through the rest of my haggard body. _Brûlez dans l'enfer, Morceau de merde, Casse-toi, Putain de merde! _I scream in my head attempting to block out the pain. Pain. Agony. Fire. Need. Relief. ROGUE! I concentrate on her voice, her chuckle, the one time she had graced me with her true laugh. I concentrate on what she had told me over the last three days.

*~FLASHBACK~*

"_So what's today's question Cajun?" Rogue gasped after she had been released from this day's experiments._

"_Chere, you remembered" I joked back_

"_Well there's not much else occupying mah mind now is there 'cept pain and ignorant government agencies"_

"_Ah, chere you think 'bout me, I'm honoured"_

"_Yeh, I think about how I'm gonna kill you through a wall without being able to see yah, is it possible to hate someone you've never actually met?"_

"_You wound me chere" He pouted even though he knew she couldn't see it, hell even he couldn't see it, but even in this place bantering with her always brought back his personality from the 'outside'._

"_Ah wish"_

"_You avoiding the fact that Ah get to ask yah a question and you gotta answer, 'memer the deal?"_

"_O' course Ah remember dats how this whole conversation started!" he chuckled, he loved to make her angry, the way her accent thickened and she growled slightly, he could imagine that her eyes flashed, green, the eyes he imagined for her were always green. It surprised him, he'd always loved blue eyes, like Belle, but Rogue deserved distinction from his past, she deserved the exotic connotations that went along with green and so that's how she was in Remy's mind a shifting face with whispers and suggestions of features that he could never quite pin down but fixed, immovable passionate green eyes, boring into his own, flashing with anger and softening with care whenever this was displayed in her voice._

"_Ok, What's you're current family like, the on with de Logan character?"_

"_Insane. Next"_

"_Chere! Real answers!"_

"_Fahne! They are insane, remember ah said it was a school?"_

"_Remy remembers everyt'ing chere"_

"_Rahte (right) anyways, it's a mad rush to do anything, meals are impossible, imagine 50 mutants all clamouring for the same thing and then attempting to use __**there**__ powers to get it, ending o' course in brawl o' some kind. Same with the bathroom Ah used to dread mah morning shower cause of the wait. But usually if ah threaten the newbies o' flirt with Bobby Ah can get in pretty quick. An dere's no privacy at all. There are 'bout three telepaths, mah best friend can go through walls, mah brother can teleport and mah overprotective father figure Logan has super hearing and smell so there were basically no secrets anywhere. But ah loved um. Kitty pretended to be a dumb valley girl but she's the smartest person ah ever met, 'part from Dr. McCoy, ah found her hacking into the FBI database one day for fun! But still every otha word outta her mouth was lahke (like), totally or whatever. Mah other best friend was mah brother Kurt. He's blue 'n fuzzy 'n the biggest joker ah eva met. Someone had the great idea of getting him one of dose joke kits for his birthday and it came with a 'fake car scratch' so he went and put it on Scott's car, Scott's in love with his car, its something we semi-normal people can't understand 'n when he saw the 'scratch' he hit the roof, almost had a complete meltdown and then spent the rest of the week using Kurt as target practice in training it was hilarious, he was almost as bad as Logan._

"_You and dis Logan get along well then, you mention him a lot" For some reason he felt a twinge of something that almost felt like jealousy, he hadn't got it while she was talking about Kurt, __**Yeah but that's 'cause Kurt's her brother, this Logan is no relation and her voice does that warming thing whenever she talks about him, and you want that to happen for you…don't know what you're talking 'bout homme…*cough* denial *cough*…shut up ma chere's talking**_

"_Yeah ah said before, he's lahke a father to me" Remy's heart lept, how could he have forgotten that he remembered everything else that she said, why'd he miss that but his internal reprimanding was put on hold as Rogue went on to describe Logan to him and he lost himself in her lazy southern drawl. "He has the worst anger issues, but he understands, he doesn't lahke to reach out to people either and we can have a whole conversation and not have to say more den about fahve (five) words. N' he has the best bike, plus he lets me have a drink sometahms (sometimes) and won't get ratty but'll look after me and'll keep quiet 'bout it too. But what ah love most abaout him is that he taught me to fight, to be strong, showed me that ma mutation wasn't mah only strength o' way to protect me, he helped show me that ah don't have to let people use me and that ah can fight back, that's why ah can't let them break me Remy, ah been close, but you pulled me back, so thanks…you know what you said 'bout getting out?"_

"_Oui chere?"_

"_Ah'd lahke yah to meet them, they'd lahke ya, you ain't bad when yah not bein' a perv."_

"_I'd love to meet them chere"_

"_Great… now my question for you!... How'd yah get caught?"_

"_You gonna laugh chere…"  
_

"_Promise ah won't" He didn't believe her he usually hated being laughed at, that was why he adopted the careless permanent flirty manner so then they wouldn't laugh at him but with him. But he wanted to hear the laugh again no matter what, he felt like a heroin addict looking for his next fix, crazing the instant high it gave him with every particle in his being._

"_Well, ah was sneaking out o' a girls window, had one foot in one foot out and den ah hear this 'Mutant detected, proceeding with acquisition' n' ah look up and dere's dis giant sentinel standing dere lookin' righ' at me, ah think dats labelad an 'oh shit' moment." He finished and waiting, for the first time willing someone to laugh and instead hearing a half strangled noise. "Chere?" he queried, worried that the guards were doing something to her, he'd heard them beat on other captives before and he couldn't bear it if they were doing it to his Rogue and he could do nothing to stop it. Just as he was about the yell or scream (in a manly way of course) to get the attention of the guards so that they'd go after him not Rogue he heard it, the ripple of laughter he'd been thirsting for exploded from her mouth, the strangling noise had been her trying to control herself, and Remy couldn't help but join her in her amusement._

"_Ah'm…sorry…Remy…but…dats….just…too…funny!" she gasped trying to regain her composer._

_He fained hurt "But you promised you wouldn't, you're mean chere, here ah thought you were a nice femme"_

"_Ah neva said ah was nice shuga."_

*~END FLASHBACK~*

Her last words echoed around his mind and his last thought before he passed out from the pain was. No she's not nice, she's _une ange _sent down to save you jus' like _Tante Mattie _always said there would be, maybe he wasn't a devil after all, maybe there was hope yet. The black abyss swallowed him but a faint smile was left on his lips.

"Mutant seems to have enjoyed today's procedures, increased pain levels may have caused slight brain damage, note to self, during next session take brain images to ascertain the extent of the damage, this one I important it the plans and we can't go breaking it now can we, especially as the girl is almost ready."

**R&R**

**OMG! Did anyone else notice that R&R can totally stand for Rogue & Remy as well as Read and Review, its like totally cosmic fate and like totally proves that you like have to like review and stuff.***

***I apologise Kitty's psyche took over**


	5. Excruciate

**AN: I'm baack! I've finished my exams, now I have a whole two months of writing time and worrying until August 27****th**** when I shall be getting my results. yey! SO… I thought that this chapter I'm focus on the X-men and answer a few of the questions that you my lovely reviews have been asking like "Why haven't they rescued her?" And such but you must understand that I may have a little trouble as Remy is so easy to write as well…I adore him and find it easy to get in his head, same with Rogue as we are kinda similar, you know misunderstood Goths who hear voices telling them to kill people, the usual, so bare with me….ANYWAYS, I have shout outs to my reviewers YAY! *jumps up and down, clapping and laughing manically, not unlike John***

**Laceylou76: **We all love a good "Oh shit" moment…Thank you for all your great reviews, you are one of my most loyal reviewers and keep them coming, you are in serious consideration to become one of my Acolytes as mentioned in the previous chapter.

**LadyMageLuna: **How about 70/30, remember I have the super psychic powers and control Remy and Rouge who I consider to be the most powerful mutants, of course I am slightly biased. Maybe if you could sweeten the deal by finding a way to give me the real Remy then I'll consider a 50/50 split…

**GardenRiver: **It would be very unwise to mess with cosmic fate. LOL! Thank for the review! Please continue, like I said it feeds my other mutation of being able to write amazing angst. See your review just gave me the ability of alliteration, ooooohhhhh! Aaaahhh!

**ChamberlinofMusic: **hehehe…gotta love R&R I mean its also rest and relaxation the letter R has got to be my favourite. Big love for your many reviews and I love your name how'd you come up with it?

**Fostersb: **At the time I just thought it would be slightly cool as they're all synonyms of pain, I recently bought a thesaurus to help in my English exam, plus I was slightly whacked out from loos of sleep due to stress so I found the alphabet really cool (don't ostracise me cause I'm different) but I'm gonna aim for 26 chapters but really could you give me a word beginning with X that means pain because I can't and I REALLY want one, it shall become my new favourite word (apart from chere) and I shall love it and you forever, or at least until I see something new and shiny like a penny or a diamond for Remy to steal for me. Please continue to review as you can see I also need them to hold on to reality as it seams to be slipping from me…oops

**Tfobmv18: **Greetings loyal reviewer and future acolyte, your questions shall be answered soon young padewan. Go forth and review! Oh! I love you're Pride and Prejudice fic, after I've finished this chapter I need to go review it in thanks

**I seem to have taken too long answering those guys BUT I also want to shout out to all those I didn't answer but who I equally love, this chapter is dedicated to you my loving audience: Edward's Stupid Lamb, XxXFairyQueenXxX, A Saphire Rose, Swamp Rat's Chere, Maybe-I-Should-Write-Something, Raven-Ann-Selene-Lunae, nytcoph0ia, ….M, tenchi13, Red red red ribbon and ONIX-21**

**DISCLAIMER: Stop torturing me I know I don't own them but I really really want to!!!**

~There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief~

~Aeschylus, Greek playwright, 525 – 456BC~

"Logan…I think you should eat something" All Jean got in return was a grunt in recognition of the fact that she was there, but he still refused to look up from the computer screen.

"AHHH! I hate these things!" He suddenly raged and soon Jean was helping him extricate his claws from the monitor. He gave it one last look of disgust, growled something about going to speak to the professor and he then strode past Jean, who sighed and used her telekinesis to dump the remains of his most recent temper tantrum in the bin. Logan had become even more reclusive and solitary than before ever since Rogue's kidnap. Constantly leaving to go meet "contacts" to get information in order to track her down, and always coming back empty handed but each time more determined then the last to find his favourite student. Jean understood why he was so resolute in finding her, when Rogue had come to the institute she had brought him out of the gruff shell that he had constructed around himself and in return he had attempted to the same for her, such as when he had helped her when she lost control of her powers, and now he was regressing and would continue to do so until they got her back. But he wasn't the only one who had been affected by the loss of their surly southern team-mate; the mansion was in a constant state of alert as there was now a constant threat due to the fact that they still had no idea as to who had taken her, how they had taken her and why. But on a personal level they were devastated.

Kitty was no longer the happy-go-lucky valley girl that everyone knew and loved now she was silent, only talking when asked a direct question and now shunned others. Guilt rolled off her in waves and sometimes the telepaths had to avoid her to prevent themselves from being pulled into her emotional rollercoaster of thoughts. She blamed herself for not being there when Rogue was taken, for not realising sooner that she was missing and for not understanding her all those times when rogue had pulled into herself. It was not until she had gone that they truly understood why she cut herself off from others, it wasn't that she was an antisocial person but the fact that she was protecting them and herself. She didn't want to harm them because of her inability to control her mutation and she didn't want to harm herself because if she let people close then they could hurt her and she had all ready been betrayed enough, she lived by the saying once bitten twice as shy and they, her own family, had failed to notice. They often blamed her for failing to reach out to other people but they had been the ones to fail as they hadn't noticed that she did reach out to others, she had been a constant in all their lives and they didn't even appreciate her until she was gone.

**R&R&R&R&R&R&R**

"I can't take it anymore Chuck, tell me you're getting somewhere with Cerebro" Logan asked as soon as he entered The Professor's study.

"I'm sorry old friend but I can't find anything" The Professor looked wearier than ever, there was a drawn look to his face as he often forgot to eat or even sleep during his extended sessions on Cerebro while looking for Rogue. "I am constantly getting a whisper of her but as soon as I try to grasp I it disappears, it's as though her captors have constructed something similar to Magneto's helmet, or Cerebro itself and are holding her there, meaning that I am unable to locate her. How are your attempts?"

"I've got nothing, but there have been other reports of disappearances of known mutants all over. I don't think this was Magneto."

"No, I'm beginning to think that this is more organised than anything even he could come up with"

"Like what?"

"While Storm gave her speech on mutant/human peace relations I picked up a small amount of information from one of the attendee's minds suggesting that our presence was not entirely unknown within the government, and that some members had already been deployed to deal with the threat." (**A.N. I may have screwed around with the order slightly as I haven't watched the series in ages and I'm sorta using bits from the movie too sorry but they don't now about Area 51 and I think Rogue's "freak out" is after that so I apologise to the hardcore fans but I claim artistic liscence to bend reality or non-reality I'm not really sure anymore) **

"You think it's the government?"

"Unfortunately yes, I am considering asking young Miss Pryde to use here considerable computer skill to acquire some more information."

"*ahem* speaking of computers, I'm pretty sure I owe you another one."

"Again, Logan?"

"Sorry, I just…I want her back Charles…she was, IS like a daughter to me, I…I was even considering making it official."

"What do you mean old friend"

"Well I know she's eighteen, nineteen now, and technically an adult but her custody papers have her under your care but I, for her birthday I was going to adopt her, I now its sentimental and out of character for me but I…I love her Chuck and I don't want to loose her, she means to damn much to me!"

"Logan, she would, WILL love it, we are going to find her. That is a promise that I'm going to make to you, and fully intend to keep."

"Thanks Chuck" The Canadian coughed in an attempt to move on to the oddly emotional and out of character moment "Er…I'll go speak to Half-Pint about getting that information. He then proceeded to exit from the room as quickly as possible, partly in an attempt to escape the awkwardness he felt from discussing his "feelings" and partly because they had a new lea and he fully intend to investigate it if it would get them any closer to finding Stripes.

**R&R&R&R&R**

Kitty was in her and Rogue's room, some people had attempted to leave flowers on Rogue's bed but Kitty had thrown them out and then went on to burn them screaming that Rogue wasn't dead and that leaving flowers was like treating it as though she was and she hadn't, they were going to find her and everything would be fine again and that all those who doubted this would see. After her "episode" Kitty had had a moment of clarity into Rogue's life she had been angry, nearly all the time, anything that could would piss her off but that was only because that anger gave her something to hold on to, a way to interact with people without getting close enough to get hurt, her anger prevented her from being lonely and completely cut off. She'd cried then and kept on crying every night around the same time she a Rogue would chat. They'd always laughed about how they were the most unlikely friends but Kitty knew that it was because they listened to each other. They may not have always understood each other, she got that now; that she had barely scratched the surface of Rouges shields, but still they listened and sometimes that's all you need, someone to listen to you.

Kitty now spoke to Kurt, they were going through the same things and so it was easy but still it wasn't like talking to Rogue. Rogue was always there to give advice but she never judged and expected the same in return but was never given it, another thing that she felt guilty about, the way they had treated her friend when she had been at the mansion, what if, wherever she was, she was alone and felt even more so because she was always alone, even in the place she was meant to call her home?

***BAMPH***

"Kitty? You coming down to eat?"

"No Kurt, I'm sorry" Kurt had changed too, through the loss of his _schwester_ he'd lost his fun loving guy attitude and turned to God, in the hope that through praying to him it would help bring Rogue back. He no longer played pranks or joked around, now he was quiet, attentive and serious, the complete opposite of his old self. No one had realised before that Rogue was one of the only ones who willingly joined in with his "Prank Wars" that she had had a wicked sense of humour and loved to bring it out if only someone would let her.

"It's fine _Katzchen_, I'm finding it hard today too, we all are, you should see Scott" Scott the leader of the X-Men had become even more obsessed with training than he had ever been before, he didn't want to let what had happened to Rogue happen to anyone else, he had never told the others but he'd always liked her but had been put off by her mutation. He was ashamed of himself to admit it and so had doubled his efforts to win Jean but now feared that his rebuffing of the Rogue's feelings had hurt her more than she had let on and he was scared that he would never be able to apologise for it, that it was too late to repair any damage he had caused in their friendship. Every lead they had on finding Rogue he treated as though it was the final mission, that they were finally going to get her back because the alternative would be too dark to comprehend, so he trained and he was severe on the others because loosing her would destroy a part of her that he desperately hung on to.

"Kurt, I just, I want too be alone today Ok?"

"Okay Kitty, just don't forget we are never truly alone, we always have _Gott"_

***BAMPH***

"I don't want God Kurt, I just want Rogue back…"

"We all do kid, we all do" came the gruff voice of the Canadian mutant standing in the doorway to her room.

"Mr. Logan, I didn't see you there!" was the startled reply from the girl on the bed

"We have a lead kid, it's a good one, The Professor thinks that the government might have something to do with this and we're going to need you're help to get some info."

"Anything," And Kitty meant it she would do anything in her power to get her friend back

"We need you to hack into the government's system, dig around, see if you can find anything."

"Anywhere in particular I can start looking"

"All we've got is a name."

Kitty had already moved over to her desk and started to boot up her laptop mentally running through all the places she would need to look and systems she could use to get there. "Shoot"

"Trask"

**OOOHHH!** **sorry if I get a bit ranty or depressing in this but I always felt they were really bitchy to Rogue. **

**AWAY FROM SERIOUS TOPICS! hope yoy liked it but I think I lost it towards the end I'm missing the Romyness but it'll be back next chapter. YAY! BTW don't you just love my ability to use an online translator, it's a gift really. **

**NOW REVIEW OR YOU SHALL BE REMOVED FROM MY NEW WORLD ORDER WHEN I AND MY FOLLOWERS TAKE OVER! THOSE WHO DO REVIEW SHALL BE REWARDED ONCE I RULE THE WORLD! MWAHAHAHAHA!**

**R&R***

*look mommy it's more cosmic fate YEY!


	6. Fire

**AN: Greetings my loyal followers, I your illustrious leader thanks you for your loving devotion but I come with devastating news. This chapter is the shortest one to date I do apologise but I fear that it is progressing too rapidly and so I require some time to increase its angstyness, dang I sounded so cool right up until that last bit, I just couldn't think of good enough word so I felt that I should make up my own! (as stated before don't ostracise me cause I'm different *1*) Again major shout outs to my reviewers and I have chosen 3 of you to be my official Acolytes, there will be a major celebration with cake (who can resist cake?) after I instigated my new world order, if your good I may even tell you what it is………NOW onto more shout outs and dedications…**

**Laceylou76: **Why my dear you should feel honour you have been chosen as my first Acolyte *Much cheering and fireworks* how do you feel? Anyway, don't we all feel that Logan is just a big cuddly badger underneath in all? And I can't wait to hear what your powers are, now go forth and spread the word of my message (even though I'm still not quite sure what it is) Live long and Prosper! (I promise I'm not a trekkie I just watched the film and loved it, is it sad if you cry at the beginning o a film and not the end?)

**Maybe-I-Should-Write-Something: **Look! You're moving up in the world! I'm so proud *dabs at imaginary tears* Thanks for your reviews and never be embarrassed by your excitement I mean I am going to rule the world so being mentioned by me is a pretty big deal. (I do understand I may be taking this a little too far, but you must understand the power that fanfic has given me may have slightly warped my perceptions of reality slightly so deal with it)

**GardenRiver: **You seam to be one of my more sensible reviewers and I love you for it because it means that I may not be as insane as the men in white coats that I live with think I am. Thank you for your compliments I love that people enjoy my writing and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside to know that I am appreciated. This also means that you shall be rewarded while the world is under my regime. P.S. How dare you call me a dictator I am only going to seize power to prevent the idiots who don't deserve it from having it and because well…. it soo preety!

**Fostersb: **As you can see I think I have finally completely lost my grip on reality, yep there it goes, bye bye. I love the Xenophobe suggestion but now I fear that I may be moving too quickly to get to 15 chapters let alone 26 so I think I may need to throw a wrench in the works (i.e. a twist) any suggestions, this isn't restricted to just you any reader who has an idea please feel free to share. Love your insane author bloodandvanity xxx

**XxXFairyQueenXxX: ***horrified gasp* how could they say such blasphemous things of cause magical creators are real who told you such lies, they must be hunted down and thrown into my newly created prison camps for narrow minded fools such as they (please understand that I mean no disrespect to those you don't believe I'm just a very loud person when it comes to voicing my opinions *demented chuckle* plus it doesn't hurt that I'm slightly insane)

**I also shout out to all the others who have review but I couldn't be bothered to write down as there are so many of you *shuffles feet* sorry….**

**BTW my other 2 Acolytes are ChamberlainofMusic and Tfobmv18 because they are such loyal reviewers YAY! I may expand my selection if anyone else gives me a good reason too.**

**DISCLAIMER: I own the movies and a few fantasies of Remy but sadly that is all, plus I do have his psyche in my head and Rogue is right he is incorrigible (To those who haven't noticed my insanity: I realise it continues to crop up and that I mention it frequently but I'm going by the theory that if you tell someone something enough times they will eventually realise that it's the truth…hehehehe)**

~Doubt is a pain too lonely to realise that faith is its twin brother~

~Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American artist, 1883 - 1931~

They had taken her again today, same as always, Remy had no idea as to what they did or why, that was the one topic they always stayed away from, there was no reason to draw the pain out anymore than necessary, their talks were about healing the pain not dwelling on it. He was always scared when they weren't together, frightened that she could be harmed in some way and he wouldn't know, he'd never thought like this before especially about a _femme. _He wasn't even sure what "this" was, he knew how it felt but he had no perception of what it was called. When they spoke, he was floating, separate from all the worries and hurt of the word but completely connected to the girl's voice and when she laughed he felt he was going to explode from the shear pleasure and awe that he a lowly thief had been able to steal such a heavenly sound from her lips, but who better was their _hien_? But when they were apart, he felt as though a part of him was missing, that his heart had gone and he was unable to feel at all, it soon came to the point that he was unable to even feel the pain that the cruel "human" doctors were inflicting on his body, the only pain he felt was being separated from her. Her pain killed him; he wanted to destroy everyone that had ever harmed her, the scientists, Ms. Darkholme even her parents for abandoning her even though he had never met them he blamed them for the occasional sad longing that sometimes laced her voice whenever she asked Remy about his family, she did this often, she especially liked Emil she said that he reminded her of Kurt and then they had preceded to make a pact that when they got out o their that they would never introduce them to each other in an attempt to prevent the Apocalypse. He almost shivered with pleasure as he recalled the laugh that he had managed to pilfer from her lips the night before after telling her about Emil's Tilling and the celebration they had had afterwards. _Dieu, _what was this hold that this _femme _had over him?

A blood curdling scream rang out from the direction of the "Test Rooms" Remy's heart stopped, what were they doing to her? The only sounds that usually came when she was being worked on was her lovely southern voice screaming profanities at them and threatening bodily harm, never anything like this. As wave after wave of rage, anxiety and agony assaulted him a small section in the back of his mind continued to work on his earlier quandary and came to an unexpected solution love, that's what she held him with, he was in love with her, his battered heart had finally started beating for someone other than himself. _C'est imposible _but true, the King of Hearts had finally found his Queen and through God's warped sense of humour it was no only with someone he had never and might never touch but also with someone he had never seen except for in his mind's eye and even that was never a fully formed image. But nonetheless he had fallen in love with this _femme _and it was the scariest moment of his life.

Of course his need to escape had just tripled in intensity, for only then would he be able to hold her, and he intended to never let her go once he could, mutation or no mutation. But he had didn't know how she felt towards him, something that he had never worried about before, usually he could walk into a bar and have any girl he wanted just because of how he look he knew that those feelings were shallow and vapid but he had always been satisfied with that, understanding that he was unworthy of the pure, bright flame that was love after all the was _le diable blanc _but now he prayed for it, although he had never done such a thing in his life, he prayed that Rogue his _chere _loved him back, that she was Ok and that they would get out of the hell in which they were residing and live out the rest of their days in happiness, something that he had always felt that he had never truly felt except when hearing Rogue laugh.

***Extreme sobbing* NOOOO! I've lost him forever he loves Rogue HOW COULD HE DO THIS TO ME!?! Hehehehehe told you I was insane but I had you going there for a minute didn't I? I again apologise that this chapter is so short but you must still review cause otherwise I'll start listening to the voices in my head telling me to kill ya'll cause I shall be so depressed *pouts with a manic gleam in her eyes***

***1* If anyone can guess where I got this from you'll get an immediate position as one of my Acolytes *GASP!* **


	7. Grief

**AN: HALLO! So…. its raining making me sad and my sedatives are wearing off making me grumpy so this chappie is slightly dark and depressing. I'm sorry but that's what happens when I don't get by meds on time. So to compliment my twisted state of mind I thought I'd give you some insight into another twisted mind. But onto lighter topics I am still looking to fill that empty Acolyte position! As for my New World Order all I've got is that I rule (of course, was that ever in question) and all the people I don't like shall be *ahem* removed and those I do like shall be rewarded. Oh yeh! and we all have to worship Romy as the greatest love there was, is and ever will be. Duh! Sorry I seem to be chanelling Magneto and Kitty at the same time...scary stuff mate.**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't worry I really don't want to own trask he scares me and to think that most of it came form my mind scares me to be honest but I still want to keep Remy...PLEASE!**

**P.S. I really hope that I don't upset anyone by some of the things in this chapter, I do not believe them at all I just thought that it would make the character seam more twisted and deepen his emotional stuntedness if there is too much objection I will happily take it down, I understand that sometimes I go too far in my attemps to make my bad guys sinister.**

~Pain is no evil unless it conquers us~

~George Eliot, English novelist, 1819 - 1880~

Bolivar Trask stood on the observation deck staring down at his beautiful creation of pain and suffering. In his mind it was a small operation holding about only two hundred of the disgusting mutants that inhabited his beautiful land, but soon it would be unnecessary, soon there would be none left at all, not here, not throughout the whole of the States or even the world. As usual he went to inspect the screens to ensure that none of his "animals" had dropped dead quite yet.

Most lay there snivelling, pathetic really, they were meant to be the superior beings, a little pain and their at your feet begging for mercy just like any other creature. Others lay still staring at the ceiling or a wall completely catatonic, these ones amused him sometimes he would send the guards in to "rough them up" a little to see if they would react, some would, flipping 180 in their moods and attacked the guards with murder in their eyes and thoughts but most wouldn't, most would just lay and take the beatings. The rest were insane or almost there, rocking themselves muttering unintelligible words or conversing with shadows, the only interest Trask had with these was with the information they supplied about their mutation and how he could use it to his advantage. Lastly his gaze fell on the two mutants that had captivated his attention since the moment they had been brought in: Mutant #14 a.k.a Remy LeBeau or Gambit and Mutant #10 Marie Darkholme a.k.a. Rogue. They were both huddled against the wall that separated cells as though they wanted to phase through it, of course this was impossible as Trask had ensured to place a power dampener within the walls of all the cells. When he saw that their mouths were moving Trask smirked, so they were conversing again? He had been informed ever since their tête-à-têtes had first started. His lackeys were worried, assuming that they were planning an escape but he knew that they were helping each other to survive, not to dissimilar to the Jews during the holocaust who had created an emotional bond to prevent themselves from loosing their minds, he had found this gem of information in a book about Hitler and his methods, a personal hero of Trask's who felt that he had only been doing what was necessary to save his country and that was what Trask was doing now, doing unspeakable things in order to do what was right in the end. As Machiavelli, another hero of his once said: the ends justify the means.

Trask allowed this friendship to continue as he fully intended to use it against them in the future to finally break their spirit but now he needed it, he needed them in particular to complete his plan to wipe out all of mutant kind. No-one knew of it, not even his most trusted scientists or the government that he worked for, no this was a personal vendetta and he could not allow anyone to get in the way. He would complete his mission and the world would be safe and his poor children at peace. With that thought he pulled out the worn photograph of his family: his beautiful wife Moira and two children Larry and Tanya. They seemed so happy in that candid photograph unaware of the horrors that lay ahead.

When Trask had first heard of the mutants through his position in the government he had been appalled how could the democracy that he had once believed in let these monsters hide in plain sight, killing, raping and pilfering it was wrong and he fully intended to right their mistakes. He had then gone on to create the Sentinels, telling no one of his plans to use them to secretly dispose of the threat but then the mutants had to interfere. They had come out into the open using one of his machines to do so halting his years of careful planning but then came the Public's distrust and fear of the mutants and he as sure that he could use that to his advantage, to make others see as he did that mutants were dangerous and needed to be put down. But that damn Professor Xavier and Ororo Munro and destroyed that chance with their lies of peace and coexistence. When he was watching those kid mutants take down that larger one he had seen killing machines that could be used against his precious country at any moment, especially when he had seen Mutant #10 suck the very life out of the mutant dubbed Juggernaut. At that moment he had begun to construct his current plan and the "incident" had only added fuel to the flames of his hatred.

The "incident" was the moment he had shot his wife between the eyes and then gone on to do the same to his children. It had all started with a discussion about the senate voting on whether to pass Mutant Registration Act, he was for it , she was against, he had become frustrated when she still wouldn't see that they were dangerous and needed to be dealt with and suddenly his world had come crashing down around him.

"Bols," she had said, looking at him with her soft warm and loving brown, Bambi eyes. "I don't want the Act to be passed because then Larry, Tanya and I would need to register and I don't want our children to be constantly on the run because their names are on some stupid list that discriminates against them because of some genetically transferred gifts that they had no control over receiving." He had shattered at that point he had done everything to protect her and their children but instead they had lied to him. In that moment they transformed before his eyes they were no longer his loving family that he adored they were now monsters that needed eliminating.

Later when he was attempting to rationalise his actions he had again blamed the mutants. Had he not heard of mutants who could control minds or impersonate others, it wasn't his fault that his family was dead no it was the mutants, this was the story that he told himself everyday and that he had told the world. Mutants had found out that he was pro-Act and had wanted to "punish" him for it, ending up killing his family, and they were more than willing to believe his delusions but every now and then the look in their eyes as he shot his children in cold blood, their last words of "Why Daddy?" and his feral reply of "Because now that I know what you truly are you are dead to me, so I should finish the job and make you dead to the rest of the world too" haunted him, often coming in the form of nightmares when his guard was down. But he refused to acknowledge the fact, he had twisted his perception of reality so mush that he truly believed his delusion that it was mutants to blame for his grief.

So he would let them have their conversations, their friendship (as if animals were capable of such complex emotions) but in the end he would win. He would save mankind and he would have his vengeance.

***peaks out from behind her pillow* Is he gone? GOOD! He scares me! Don't worry Romy whall be back next chapter, probably from Rogue's point of viw to shake things up a bit (thank you Fostersb). Hope you enjoyed that littly skip into the drak twisted recess of my mind so REVIEW or you shall be shown the full extent of its scary nature and using all the imagination it has I shall do something nasty to you, well probably not but it sounded cool didn't it. **

**ANYWAY R&R!!!!!! -- remember the cosmic fate!**

P.S. I may have to take a break for a couple of days due to work experience so don't get mad i it takes a while for the next installment....


	8. Hurting

**AN: AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! I can't belive it's taken sooooo long to update bu I've been busy doing work experience, it's actually really fun, I'm an assistant teacher person an the kids are soooo cute and easy to manipulate in order to follow my command when I take over (hehehe I am determined so I'm not going to drop this, at least for a while anyway) *Grins manically* You liked it YEY!!! My audience loves my psycho child killer…cool! But for now we return to our blissful Romyness, I don't want to give away all of the story too soon and well, I'm craving it slightly. Plus I kinda need to explain that the next 3 chapters are all happening at the same time as Remy's "epiphany" and their all from Rogue's point of view, it's mostly flashbacks to begin with but I'm gonna try to explain a bit more about what they're doing to her. And now to my lovely reviewers!!!**

**Laceylou76: **YAY! Thanks! I love that Trask is being received well, I was worried he was slightly too twisted, I hope you like this chapter and it was worth the wait,. You will be rewarded by faithful Acolyte, go forth and commence you're mission to destroy Trask for he threatens our existence and my command! *giggles*

**GardenRiver: **apology accepted! Thanks for the compliments on my writing they make my ego a nice comfortable bloated size (the only part of me that is good to be bloated) all shall be revealed later, but hopefully not too soon or I'd have to stop writing soon and I'm really enjoying myself on this one, sorry about the nightmares, just think wonderful thoughts of Remy coming to rescue you, that should help.

**Tfobmv18: **You are very welcome my loyal Acolyte, but Trask would have to be psycho to mess with the sassy southerner and Ragin' Cajun and I totally understand about computer troubles, mine almost crashed the other day from Romy overload while I was writing *glares at computer, who is now cowering in the corner after being beaten into submission* They can be so aggravating at times!

**LadyMageLuna: **DEAL! I totally understand the whole not wanting to submit to the rule of others but can I just have one think Partner? The Acolytes, cause they are so cool and I spent so long recruiting them! Please! *insert cute puppy dog face here*

**ChamberlinofMusic: **That is so cool! I always wanted to be in an orchestra but all I can do is sing so I could never join music groups like that…I love that you're enjoying my fic but NO WAY am I Magneto he's like old ewww I am something new, I am: PSYCHO!!! *BIG EVIL LAUGH* Enjoy you're new status as an Acolyte, use the power well. Of course Cosmic Fate shall live forever, even after we have long gone, cosmic fate shall survive, it's all in the name….Trask is an evil b*****d I know and his plan shall be reveiled closer to the end, I really want to do one of those giant speeces where the big bad explains his diabolical scheme giving the goodies the chance to escape or giving time for the cavalry to arrive or something, but its all still relatively vague right now so enjoy the simplicity while you can, it may start to twist.

**Wanda W: **MY GOD! I open my account this evening after getting in from my 2 hour walk home from work and almost collapse when I see 7 reviews all from you! WOW! I love that you're enjoying the story, you're feed back is great. It's great to see that so many people like the adoption thing as its sort of a guilty pleasure for me, I always loved their relationship and hate it when people try to turn it in to something more (unless its good writing then I totally understand) I always wanted Rogue to tur out to be Logan's long lost daughter or something but I know it's too far fetched so this seemed like the next best thing, and don't we all feel like beating o our computers a lot of the time, I sort of wrote that part during a particularly rough patch in the relationship between me and my laptop. The scream will be explained in chapter 10 I think according to my rough work up so not long to go and I'm loving your philosophical tendencies (See I can use cool long words too *hehehe*) You are officially one of my new favourite reviewers and I believe you should become and Acolyte *trumpet fanfare* Enjoy your power and I hope you like this chapter (I'm not so sure about it it's been a while and I feel somewhat rusty)

**A HUGE thanks to my other reviewers as well : F., missunderstood, dddynamite, Kendran, InspirationandStrife, Warrioroftheseventhstar, Jewel and Koal (I love that you asked so nicely so sure welcome new Acolyte to the family *Trumpet fanfare, cheering masses*), Maybe-I-Should-Write-Something, ONIX-21, XxXFairyQueenXxX and Fostersb**

~We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment~

~Jim Rohn, Business Philosopher, 1930 – Present Day~

The skin pealed away from her arm as though it was the skin of an apple being cut away to suit the tastes of the scientists that were now experimenting on her. They had been fascinated by her power since she had been taken, always poking around in her brain or messing with her skin, one freak even went on to investigate her stomach believing that she somehow digested the power that she absorbed. But she didn't pay any attention to it at al,l her attention was zoned in on the man in the business suit, he was always there, whenever she was being examined, he always watched and Rogue got the feeling that he was somehow in charge of this torture and so always fixed him with the Patented Rogue Death Glare, something that had once made Sabertooth quake in his fur (she had proof). But this an was never affected at all, in fact he always returned her look with one of patronising disgust and soon he was watching the skin being removed once again with morbid fascination.

The pain soon became too much, but she couldn't let them know _Gawde _(God) girl get it together think about some thing else… your conversation with Remy yesterday…come on you can do it.

*~FLASHBACK~*

"_Bonne journee, chere" called the Swamp Rat as soon as she had been returned to his cell. She was exhausted but his smooth voice that could melt butter on an ice-drift always gave her energy and a feeling of security and well being, which was some feet considering where they were._

"_Is it really a good day Remy?" Was her energy drained reply, they had been hard on her that day and she wanted to sleep, to let the darkness take her and fool herself that she was back home in her room and not stuck in some god forsaken concrete cell in the middle of who knows where._

"_Any day I can hear your belle voice is a good day chere" flirted Remy shamelessly, he always knew how to bring her back from the self pitying abyss that she seemed so eager to fling herself into, and this knowledge plus the cheesy one liner caused her to chuckle, she could have sworn she heard a sigh of contentment drift over from the other side of the wall…or was that just the aftermath of today's tests fraying her senses. _

"_You say somthang Swamp Rat?"_

"_Nut'in' chere just considerin' today's question" So it really had been nothing after all, why was her stomach all in knots, it wasn't as though she'd been expecting him to profess his love for her or anything! "I t'ink dat seein' as you be knowing how I got caught, dat I should know how you got caught."_

"_Ah rahght (All right) Swamp rat…Well I told you about mah power, how Ah can't touch people without knockin' them out, well there's a doctor at the mansion an he wanted to try and help me control it through experiments, don't think I'll be able to continue when we get outta here, anyways I'd had a really bad day, I'd managed to get my control up to 1 minute but I couldn't get past it and had past out a couple o' times, I decided to blow off some steam by checking out the new record store with Kitty but she blew me off at the last minute to go on a date with her boyfriend Lance."_

_  
"de kid you used to live with? Dat was wrong of her chere."_

"_No, she loves him n' it means that she's not here with me o' worse dead, she shouldn't have to be dragged down by me."_

"_Chere, you could never drag anyone down, n' if you did they should consider themselves lucky to have merely been in the presence of such a special being as you, you have turned this hell into something bearable n' I've never even met you." His words caused my heart to flutter, but he was just saying those things right? Like he said he's never met me, then again he didn't have to say it so if he didn't mean it why bother?.........why do you care, Rogue? What's the point of over analysing the situation? Get a grip girl!_

"_Stop with the lines Swamp rat"_

"_With you they're never lines chere"_

"_Can ah geet back to da story now or do you want to just keep flirtin' at the wall"_

"_Je suis tres desole chere, continue"_

"_good, anyways, ah went out anyway cause ah just couldn't stand the mansion anymore, ah felt trapped and like an outcast at the same time, trapped 'cause ah had nowhere else to go 'cause anywheres else ah'd be dangerous and could hurt somebody and lahke an outcast 'cause ah was surrounded by so many people who could control their powers, who were better than me, who weren't useless. At the tahme I was pissed I stormed out and even though ah'd understood that Kitty wanted to spend tahme with the guy she loved ah resented her for it, 'cause ah'd never had and might never have that. Ah jus' walked screaming inside hating mahself, the professor, Logan and the X-men because if ah hated them then it didn't hurt 'cause they didn't mean anything, if ah hated them ah wasn't lonely because they weren't part of me, ah don't think ah'm explaining it very well but it makes sense to me and really that's all that mattered at the tahme. It had been a long time, starting to get dark so ah thought ah'd head back and ah'd cooled down enough to be able to go back into the house without punching someone, ah'd still need a bit o' time on the roof though, ah was thinking about how ah'd sneak up there without letting anyone know ah was there when a huge shadow fell across me, ah looked up 'cause it had been clear all day and there was a Sentinal, ah didn't even have tahme to turn to run it grabbed me an then ah woke up here, kicking and screaming."_

"_Your story's a lot better than mine Roguey" Quipped the Cajun, obviously trying to lighten the mood_

"_What did you jus' call me Swamp rat?"_

"_Er…Roguey?"_

"_If you ever call me that again so help me I'll convince the guards to do a once over on you 'cause Ah can't really do it mahself at the moment…." She replied vehemently only Kurt could call her that, even though she protested when he called her it aswell, it was just too vivid a reminder of home and everything that she missed there, especially after just talking about the day she had been taken and how she wished that she could have left everything on better terms, maybe that was why they weren't coming to get her………NO! I forbid you to think like that! They are coming they're just having a bit of trouble finding you, I mean this is a government run operation, they gotta know how to cover their tracks._

"_Again, je suis desole chere, I prefer chere anyway, it describes you better because you are dear to me"_

_Rogue snorted "Do you research these lines on the internet or something or do they just come to you because the stench of cheese is starting to make me nauseous"_

"_*gasp* there is no cheese chere, how could you say such a hurtful thing, you wound me" she could almost imagine him clutching at his heart and falling to the ground in mock hurt when said this._

"_Ah wish Cajun" She couldn't help but reply, she loved that he could lighten her spirits even when in the blackest of despair or self-loathing he could pull her out and have her rolling in fits of laughter within minutes._

"_Really chere? You want to hurt Remy? Ah t'ought you loved me?" she almost choked when he came ut with that but couldn't comprehend why? Probably the disgust at Remy referring to himself in the third person. He would do this occasionally and Rogue couldn't stand it, if you're going to speak at least do it properly. _

"_Whatever Swamp rat…can Ah ask mah question now?"_

"_Ask away mon chere"_

"_What was it lahke to live on the streets? You don't have to answer if yah don't want to ah was just wondering…"_

"_It's fine Rogue, I like that you asked, it's good to share these things with someone, hein? It was hard, ah live with a gang called Fagan's Mob but it wasn't really livin' there was always someone bigger n' stronger to take from you, to use you, life hasn't really changed much, huh chere? But they were scared of me, called me le Diable Blanc 'cause of mah eyes n' ah hated it so ah learned to hide in plain sight, tobe able to have a whole conversation with someone, have them comepletely trust me and never once have to look them in the eyes, ah hate them still, ah always brace myself for the running and the screaming and now, now they're what's causin' me pain, if it wasn't for them maybe…" He paused and with it Rogue could hear his soul call out to her with all his hopes, regrets and fears. With that one pause Remy told Rogue more than what a thousand words could. He blamed how he looked for why his parents had left him, how his father used him and why he thought he didn't deserve to be loved. These pauses were frequent whenever Remy was answering one of Rogue's questions but she never pushed him to carry on for they always told her what he wanted to say anyway and if he really wanted to tell her how he felt he would. That's what their relat…friendship was all about. Remy carried on with his answer. "There was an unwritten rule within the gang, as soon as you weren't useful you weren't welcome, so that's what each day became, a struggle to remain inconspicuous and useful at the same time. You were starving half the time and the other half sick from the terrible food that you did get. It was not living and ah thank God everyday for sending mon pere to rescue me."_

"_You're special too Remy, to be able to survive that and turn out as good as you are, ah'm honoured to know you too even if it's in these circumstances, ah wouldn't change a thing."_

"_Me neither chere, me neither"_

**AWWW! I know It's been a while my followers but I hope you enjoyed this chapter as always REVIEW! Or I may let it slip to Trask that you are Mutants and who knows how he shall react!?!**

**Read & Review**

**Remy & Rogue**

**R&R**


	9. Infelicitous

**AH: HI! *waves manically* I've got a present for all you lovely people, ANOUTHER CHAPTER!!! And because I've decided that I need a better work ethic I've basically planned out the whole thing! There are a few patchy areas still but now I feel a whole lot better about everything because I know where it's going (apart from the ending, can't decide yet) Therefore I Psycho declare that all is good and bright in the world apart from Trask and his twistedness. The men in white coats have put me back on the sedatives so my randomness seems to have decreased a bit. Hope you all enjoy this chapter and if you don't, don't worry it'll get better. **

**DISCLAIMER: Please don't make me say it, please, I'll be extra good and write 3 chapters a day if I don't have to say it….no? FINE! I DON'T OWN REMY OR ROGUE OR ANY OF THE X-MEN! THERE I SAID IT!!! *Pouts then storms off slamming doors* I HATE YOU! (My inner 5-year-old at its best)**

**REVIEWERS:**

**LadyMageLuna, Onix-21, Fostersb, tfobmv18, ChamberlinofMusic and Kendran : **Thakns sooo much for your reviews! I love them, its great that so many people are actually reading this and enjoying it too!

**Wanda W: **HA! Well nobody can be perfect and Rogue's had a tough time, she thinks that nobody loves her because of her past experiences and that nobody could ever love her because of her powers making her one big neurotic mess, which is so much fun to write! It's great that you think the relationships good, when I read some fics Remy's just a player that falls in love with the untouchable girl, loads never try to work out why he's a player and why he falls in love and I love the angst that it creates so really it's a win win. My god I sound so serious quick I need to loosen up, how about a joke:

_This guy dies and is sent to Hell. Satan meets him and shows him the doors to three rooms and says he must choose one of the rooms to spend eternity in._

So Satan opens the first door. In the room there are people standing in cow manure up to their necks. The guy says "No, please show me the next room".

Satan shows him the next room and this has people with cow manure up to their noses. And so he says no again.

Finally, Satan shows him the third and final room. This time there are people in there with cow manure up to their knees drinking cups of tea and eating cakes.

So the guy says, "I'll choose this room". Satan says O.K. The guys is standing in there eating his cake and drinking his tea thinking, "Well, it could be worse", when the door opens. Satan pops his head around, and says "O.K. tea-break is over. Back on your heads!"

Sorry about that but I needed to stop being so normal it was giving me a headache trying to stop the voices

**LaceyLou76: **I could never skip out on my Acolytes! I just had a hard time well trying to find time…that sounded better in my head…Thanks for the review, the story's going to start picking up now, plans revealed, love declared etc. etc. hope you like!

**GardenRiver: **Don't worry, be happy! The X-Men shall arrive but it may take them a while what you should worry about is shape our favourite southern couple will be in when they arrive? But I can reveal NOTHING! Only Remy could ever steal that secret from me (good thing he's in your dreams, maybe you could convince him, no?)

**Jewel and Koal: **Of course its crazy have you not been listening, I gave you fare warning Acolyte, its even in the name Psycho *lightning crashes, evil laugh, wails of misery in background, scary music, the usual* Don't worry most of my crazy goes into my writing, the rest into TAKING OVER THE WORLD! All I need now is Pinky. (If you don't understand that reference I am ashamed of you.)

**Alexmonalisa: ***chuckle* your review was just what I needed at 2AM unable to sleep and with Major writers block so thank you. I hope you enjoy my recent crazyness but due to exhaustion it seems to have died down a little. I'm sorry but Trask will be making an appearance soon but I could never touch the face, I live for the face, I wish to stare at the face and its angelic beauty for hors upon end, I would never harm it. Psyches can get really irritating at times mine always take over during really awkward situations and make random insensitive jokes that really don't help the situation, just as my friends (I'm the female Chandler of the group). Congrats on being my 70th reviewer when I saw it I almost BAMPHED through the roof. Please continue to read and review and I hope you like my obsessively long answer to your review! ;D

~You purchase pain with all that joy can give, and die of nothing but a rage to live~

~Alexander Pope, English Poet, 1688 – 1744~

"Right, Gentlemen I believe that those are all the samples that we need for today, I suggest we begin to wrap things up now"

The scientist in charge of today's testing was a scrawny man with thick glasses and beady eyes, the sort you would avoid on the streets for fear he was a sex offender but Rogue didn't care, she was focusing on his words. It was over? I can go back to Remy now? Hurry UP! But it appeared that she had gotten her hopes up too soon. The Scientist had walked over to the large metal cabinet in the corner where the medication was usually kept (After being I there so many times, Rogue felt as though she would be able to perform the procedures herself) and returned with a syringe full of green liquid. She then noticed that the other lackeys hadn't bandaged her up yet. What was going on, usually they took their samples, bandaged her up and sent her on her was unless they were taking images or had a new theory then she'd spend the time being poked, prodded and cut open? What's in the syringe?

"Now Mutant #10 in order not to startle you I'm going to explain this next procedure, recently we've been looking into making you freaks a useful part of society. Through our tests on another mutant we discovered that the chemicals in their skin allowed them to heal others. We managed to create this formula from our research. Unfortunately the mutant had to be disposed of before we were able to complete our tests meaning we are unsure as to whether this will work. So as you have been seen to have the highest endurance levels of all the subjects we have here, you have been selected to test it. All we have to do is inject it into your bloodstream and observe the results!"

Oh lucky me…I get to play guinea pig. She attempted to struggle but the leather straps that always encircled her wrists whenever she in here or on the gurney kept her down. She knew it was going to hurt you could it see in their eager expressions on their faces and the speed at which they were writing in their clipboards they were only ever this excited when they had a new way to torture her. The scientist was ready now, swiftly injecting her arm with the cool professional demeanour that any normal doctor would have.

The pain was intense but no more than when they were taking the skin off her arm, in fact it was almost exactly the same. She looked down and with fascination watched the skin grow back in all the places they had stolen it from with gritted teeth and a fierce determination to show no pain. The only lesson from Mystique that she ever listened to: to show pain was weak, and if you are weak you can be used. That was Rogue's greatest fear: to be used again, a fear that still plagued her even when she was talking to Remy she feared that he might use her, he'd already admitted that he was a ladies man. But she was beginning to trust him, if he didn't care he wouldn't bother talking, telling her his secrets, his past, he wouldn't use her and she would never use him, except to distract herself from the pain that was now growing. She thought back to one of their previous conversations to escape.

*~FLASHBACK~*

"_Rogue I have your question" declared Remy with a satisfied tone, he had been taken that day and hadn't been conscious enough to think of one meaning that she had had to wait for their conversation that night._

"_Took yah long enough, Swamp Rat"_

"_Ah'm sorry chere, like mah Tante Mattie says a gentleman should never keep a femme waiting"_

"_Yur (You're) a gentlemen now are yah?"_

"_O' course chere, now, mah question is: What happened when you first got you're powers?" She knew this question was coming, she was amazed that it had taken so long for him to ask. It was a frequent conversation at the mansion whenever a new kid turned up. It was always: What's you're name? What's your power? What happened when you first got them? What do your family think? Whoever asked the last question was usually quickly shut up though it was an unwritten rule at the mansion, if someone was there usually their parents didn't want them because of their mutation so don't ask. _

**(AN: I'm going to use the original power manifestation story not the Evolution version because I like it better so don't freak because I know this isn't what happened in the series)**

"_Cody was mah best friend, he was the first kid to talk to me after Irene adopted me and after that we were always together. He taught me to skip rocks, Ah taught him to throw a punch. He was mah only real friend, Irene had made up all these stories about skin conditions so that Ah wouldn't tough anyone but Cody never cared about any of it, he'd always stick by me and stand up for me. But when we were 17 Cody and Ah were out walking lahke always and he's going on about how the moon's pretty and then he kissed me. Next thing Ah know Ah'm being thrown out of his house by his father. Turns out Ah had let Cody's psyche take over and he'd gone to his house thinking everything was normal, scaring everyone to death, ah got roughed up a little but Ah understand." His family had never liked her and now she was coming over calling them mum and dad and acting like Cody, who wouldn't hit her? "He's still in a coma, Ah visited him once but, it hurt too much and it made him talk to loud…in my head, he's still there, the only one Ah could never fully control, mah biggest regret is that Ah took his life away from him, he gave me a kiss, one of my most treasured possessions as it's probably never gonna happen again and Ah look his whole life away, Ah always regret that day, why Ah couldn't have listened to Irene for just one day I'll never know, but that day makes me just as bad as Raven and all the other monsters of this world. Ah took what ah wanted and ah didn't care who ah hurt. Ah was selfish, ah was wrong." I had no clue why I was telling him all this, not even the professor knew this from their mind lessons. She'd always close off this one thought, her greatest insecurity that deep down, she was useless to the X-Men that se was actually a hindrance because she was exactly like those that they were trying to fight. A monster. Cursed._

"_Chere, it was not yur fault. You didn't want the kiss, he kissed you. You didn't know about your powers, Irene did and didn't tell you. You aren't dragging the X-hommes down, you've helped save the world hundreds of times, what about the time Juggernaut escaped hien? You are no monster, you are une ange straight from heaven, you are too good to ever consider yourself to be a monster, leave that to me."_

"_Remy how could you ever be a monster? You're the best person ah know"_

"_Ah have done terrible things chere, even the way I look is enough to make some run and scream in terror, Je suis le diable blanc, a demon not fit for your angelic presence. I steal, I cheat, I gamble, I womanize and… I have killed a man chere…I am the monster not you" The depression and absolute conviction in his voice proved that he completely believed what he had just said. That he really believed himself destined for hell, that he was an abhorrent creature that should be turned away from. I snorted in disgust at the very thought. _

"_Yah also are kind, compassionate, loving have the ability to bring me back from the brink of defeat, made me laugh while I was broken and bleeding, give me hope in this barren wasteland of pain and despair and you forget one thing…Ah have killed a man as well, he may still be breathing but Ah ended his life, because of me he'll never be a pro baseball player like he dreamed, he'll never get married, never have kids, never even graduate high school, Ah killed him and if you say Ah am no monster then Ah believe you but that definitely means that yah are no monster either and yah insult meh, yahself and yah family that obviously loves you to even think such a thing. Now overlooking our random emotional breakdown Ah get to ask mah question now ah believe, Ah'm curious now…how did yah powers manifest?"_

"_You are one fille stupéfiante (__**AN: I hope that means **__amazing girl), I told you about my gamblin' well I like to play card games. I was playing solitaire with is bien but I prefer someone to play with*, Emil had drawn over then cards to joke with me and I got furieux, de cards started to glow, I 'eld on for too long and they exploded in my hands…il a fait mal…It hurt…I wear glove to hide the scars and my cards are a constant reminder of the pain I could inflict if I lost control."_

"_Yah cards?" Rogue heard Remy give a small chuckle_

"_Oui, I use playing cards as my arme de choix…weapon of choice, I fits with the image"_

"_What of a smarmy, slimy Cajun Swamp rat?"_

"_exactement!" Was the only smug reply she received until lights out._

*~END FLASHBACK~*

The pain had subsided as the memory came to a close and ready to be returned to her cell to have another conversation she had a question ready and everything when the atmosphere in the room suddenly shifted. It evolved from one of excitement and discovery to fear and respect. She open her eyes, which she had squeezed shut after the pain had intensified and focused them on the man that had just entered from the observation room, the man in the suit.

"Hello Marie, my name is Bolivar Trask"

**And that's all your getting, I know I'm a bitch, I am also your ruthless leader so you can do nothing about it *NA NA NA NA NA* Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I had major writers block so I hope it's OK. AHHH Trask is back!!! Oh also I hope the hardcore fans enjoyed my * as it's a paraphrase of a line from the first episode of the original X-Men the Animated Series that I happened to catch on TV a couple of days ago and it made me laugh…REMY IS GORGEOUS! Sorry it took so long for this chapter but I hope to get the next one up soon cause I've already started it, it might be finished by Monday, cross everything that can be crossed! OOPS! My laptop is being temperamental so I had to *borrow* one off the lovely men in white coats and they just found me so I shall leave you now my followers but do not forget to REVIEW or I shall send my white coated keepers to come and lock you away too for being crazy enough to cross the MIGHT PSYCHO *lightnigh crashes, dun dun duuuh music etc etc*!!!!**

**Goodbye my duckies**

**Love**

**Bloodandvanity**

**xxx**


	10. Joyless

**AN: I told you, by my time I have just under an hour until Monday, so suck on that!!! Things are starting to kick off now YEY! I have no idea whether this chapter makes any sense as I kept stopping and starting it again during random intervals throughout the day. And now I'm stuck using clever scientist speak as I'm still channelling that character! Speaking of scientists, none of the scientific thing in this are real, I have no idea whether it would work or not I just thought it sounded cool so don't pull me up on that one. Loyal subjects I Psycho hearby announce that I finally have reached double figure chapters! 10! Celebrate, be joyful and use those feelings in reviews, I'm feeling lonely in my little padded cell.**

**DISCLAIMER: do you think that if I owned Remy that I would share him with anyone else? Really its just silly to ask. I'm the teenager and yet you think that it's clever to ask whether I own the most amazing guy on the planet, really? Oh btw I don't own the Princess Bride either (that's the quote for all those who are wondering, If you don't know it then it is a required film to watch for my New World Order! GO WATCH NOW! But read and review first!)**

**LOVE TO MY REVIEWERS: **

**tfobmv18, **

**laceylou, **

**GardenRiver: **please don't break your fingers, you need them to review!**, **

**Alexmonalisa: **Well at least you have your comics, great that my reply makes you so happy but I hope the update makes you happier**,**

**XxXFairyQueenXxX,**

**Misunderstood,**

**LadyMageLuna**

**Sorry about the short replies but well…I'm falling asleep and right now coherent sentences make my head hurt, but I still love you all and am ever your fearless leader Psycho! Xxx**

~I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage.~

~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, German philosopher, 1844–1900~

"Gentlemen I believe that it is time Miss Darkholme had another Endurance test, don't you?"

I looked at him with fear in my eyes; the only time I ever let them see how I truly felt was when I was due for my Endurance Tests. I had learnt pretty early on that they were hell on Earth, the worst pain you could ever imagine increased to the point where you felt that you were being incinerated from the inside out. I despised this man already, not only had he promised pain, but because he didn't care, no remorse, anger even humour for Gods sake just the flat, emotionless dead, grey orbs that he called eyes.

"Have these tests ever been explained to you my dear?" He paused and I held back the urge to heave his voice was like oil and sandpaper at the same time, grating at my soul and making me feel like I was drowning simultaneously. This man, this creature dictated my life, the thought hit me while he was waiting for my reply. He knew my name…no-one knew my name, only me, the professor and Remy yet this beast had called me by it when he had entered the room, I felt violated, like my past had been desecrated. "No? Well I must explain, I have been very interested in your abnormality since you first arrived, in fact I have great plans for you, but we mustn't ruin the surprise, lets just say that you will help me purge the world of your plague and to do that I must see how strong you really are, how long you'll survive my scheme. You see this here?" Trask indicated to the new syringe that Head Scientist was holding, it contained a clear liquid with small blue speckles in it, I visibly cringed away from it, I had seen this substance before, many times. They would inject, I would scream, they would scribble, I would pass out, the continuous cycle of torture to see how long I would hold out. Each time was longer, harder, more painful and each time they would become more excited and more encouraged by my consciousness. "I stumbled upon it quite by accident while developing My Sentinels" If possible my skin crawled even more, this was the son-of-a-bitch responsible for it all, mutants coming out of the shadows, for sticking me in this torment for almost killing me everyday but making sure that I was just well enough to survive until the next, for doing the same to Remy I was going to rip his scrawny little neck out!!! "You see this beauty here raises the acidity levels of your blood ever so slightly, just enough to make it feel as though you're melting from the inside, the pain is intense and I can wait to see how long you're going to last this time, I do hope you will finally get over your 7 hour record, I can wait to hear you squeal like the animal that you are." ANIMAL!?! The guy that is trying to burn me to a crisp from the inside and he calls ME an animal!?!

"Why are you doing this, you Monster?"

"As Hitler once said: I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice, I will have my justice by wiping every last peace of you scum off the face of the Earth and I'm going to use you to do it." He indicated for Head Scientist to finally inject me and I cowered away, ashamed but unable to stand up to the unendurable pain that I knew was to come.

The slight prick in my arm alerted me to the fact I had lost and I lay there waiting, knowing I would be powerless to stop the agony that was surely to come all I could do now was delay it. Distract my mind from the flames that were now licking their way up blood vessels in my arm, melting away at my body and resolve.

Beheading would be a good way to kill him, too quick but the blood would spurt nicely. No? How about a duel to the pain? Rogue mulled this idea over in her head and found herself liking it more and more with each moment, much better then setting him alight…She remembered the passage form the book clearly "_Fist thing you will loose will be your feet, the left, then the right. Below the ankle. Then your hands, at the wrist. Next your nose, no smell of dawn for you. Followed by your tongue. Deeply cut away, not even a stump left. And then your left eye—"_

"_And then my right eye and then my ears, and shall we get on with it?"_

"_WRONG! Your ears you shall keep, so that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish – every babe that weeps in fear of you approach, every woman that cries 'Dear God, what is that thing?' will reverberate forever with your perfect ears. That is what 'to the pain means'. It means that I leave you to live in anguish, in humiliation, in freakish misery until you can stand it no more."_ It was perfect, he would truly know how live would feel to be one of us "freaks" and would have the pain that he had inflicted upon us in this prison.

But the pain continued to knar away at me, it had already infiltrated my legs and was slowly climbing up my torso. Inflicting imaginary bodily harm on Bolivar Trask was no longer enough, I turned to Remy, the one thought that always held off the pain, he had lengthen my time from 4 hours 20 to a straight 7 hours and was determined to beat it. To stave off the abyss that enveloped by world at the end of each of these sessions, it terrified me every time it had occurred before my conversations with Remy. The time he first asked me to talk about my family I had only just returned from one of the Tests and I knew I wouldn't survive another. But when Remy's voice had asked me that one simple request he pulled me back, he gave me another, stronger, more urgent reason to carry on and being as stubborn as I am, I used it. Using Trask's use of my name to fuel my grit I recalled the question I had asked after I had told Remy my name.

*~FLASHBACK~*

"_What is your biggest regret?" I was expecting something generic like, getting caught or not going after some girls when he had that chance. I truly surprised when his voice responded with the most sincerity and sadness I had ever heard one man speak._

"_I regret not saving Etienne, it should have been me" _

"_Yah cousin?"  
_

"_My cousin, It was his Tilling but we were set up, the Assassin's they…they wanted to kill me and I was Etienne's Second. They set us up." He paused in the story and she thought that was all he was going to tell her, which was fine, she understood that it was difficult to talk about the deaths of the ones that you love, especially ones you felt guilty for, Remy had been the first person she had ever spoken to about Cody after all, but she hoped that e would open up to her. He wore so many masks and had constructed so many walls around himself, just like her and because of that she knew that he had to share it with someone, allow one person to see his true, scared self as hypocritical as that sounded, but she didn't want to lose him too. "The guards had been doubled and were armed, they were informed of our plan, knowing precisely where and when we were going to enter the building. They…they shot at us, I got caught once in the shoulder and I lost sight of Etienne while we were running. I should…I should have stayed, distracted the guards to give him some time to get clear but I…I was a coward…I blew a hole in the wall that went straight onto the river and I jumped…The Guild came and picked me up…Etienne had drowned…he got caught by a piece of debris, knocked unconscious, unable to swim. I…I…I killed him, my own family…I…" He choked off but there were no sobs, no tears just a palpable self-loathing that Rogue was all too familiar with._

"_Yah, didn't kill him, the Assassin's did, you feel guilty, you blame yourself you wish ta Gawde that it had been you. But it's not! Yah are alive, yah are here and there's nothing you can do about it! Yah love him, he was family and he loved you, he could have chosen anyone as his Second but he chose yah, and yah did all you could, if yah had stayed yah could have both died, the Assassin's would have won and their would be even greater grief in your family, they would have lost their Prince and their Son, so stop this, or his death would have been truly worthless. Now tell be did you get vengeance?"_

_There was a shocked pause at her sudden outburst and Rogue was worried she had taken it too far. She just hated to hear his fun loving voice so full of sadness; it made her want to rip the hearts out of whoever had made it so and then slap the Cajun silly for being so self-pitying. Finally Remy's voice returned "Yes,"_

"_Then all is balanced, justice was served and you should move on, I don't mean yah should forget him, never forget him, remember him everyday and let his memory make you stronger because we are only truly dead when we are forgotten, and his love will keep you going even it the toughest of times, like now. I use the memories of all the people I love to keep me going, to give me a reason to continue, and you're one of them Remy, so don't give in to shame because we need to keep going together, Okay?"_

"_Of course Marie, ma chere you are one of my memories too you know."_

"_Course I do, otherwise I'd come and kick your ass"_

*~END FLASHBACK~*

Rogue gritted her teeth, holding back the scream that threatened to escape as Trask's words permeated through her memories. He was talking to Head Scientist.

"What do the images show?"

"It's just as you suspected, I'm amazed that you would have noticed it before sir"

"Never underestimate me Simon, why is this area highlighted?"

"Nothing, it's just the subject's mind retreating into its memories to protect itself, a common defence mechanism, especially between Mutant #10 and #14, interesting really but inconsequential all that matters is this area here, notice the glitch? That is exactly what we've been looking for."

"Superb Simon, this will put us ahead of schedule by 2 weeks I am truly astonished at the progress here, its almost a shame to move onto Phase 3 of the plan."

"Phase 3 sir?"

"Why yes, I forgot that you hadn't been informed, don't worry all will be revealed in time, and I assure you that it will benefit you greatly, now I wish to raise Mutant #10's dosage, the quiet in here is boring and I wish to hear her lovely southern scream."

"Sir! I must protest a higher dosage could be fatal for the subject. The acidity could permanently damage her body as well as her brain. Not to mention what the stress of the pain could do to her mind, if she even survives she could lose all coherent thought or sanity. Need I remind you of Mutant #7? Consider the consequences, the ramifications of your actions could be cataclysmic for all that you have worked for, I must pro—"

**BANG**

"You all talk too much…Now Marie, I know that you have been holding back on us, you are much stronger than seem so I am going to increase the dosage myself." He paused for a moment but Rogue had no idea what he was doing, she had her eyes squeezed shut and the pain was making her thoughts short and disjointed.

More Pain? Can't handle more

Bang? Did he shoot him?

Need to keep going

Talk to Remy soon

Pain

"I always admired, your powers, to kill and it to be so quick, easy and clean. I do hate the way people feel the need to bleed all over you when they're dying, so inconsiderate, they were killed for a reason so why continue to irritate me? Anyway ahh…yes here we are…enjoy this #10 I sure will."

The pain finally exploded, colours bursting before her eyes in a mocking dance or reds, oranges and yellows with black finally inching its way across her vision while screams continues to wrack her small frame. When the blackness finally took her she hoped it was death.

I'm sorry Remy, I love you.

…

**I'm all depressed now, only reviews will make me happy again. Don't worry she isn't dead, not by a long shot. Another cliffy I know, but you love the drama really.**

**xxx**

**R&R…R&R…R&R…R&R…R&R…R&R…R&R…R&R…R&R…R&R…R&R**


	11. Kedogenous

**DISCLAIMER:**

**Trask: Now Pri-**

**Me: *Ahem* It's Psycho**

**Trask: Right…Psycho…I have been informed that you believe you own the X-Men, is that correct?**

**Me: Yep**

**Trask: I'm sorry but you don't, Marvel do**

**Me: Nope, they think they do but really I own it**

***buzz from being electrocuted by the evil Trask***

**Trask: Now repeat after me: I…Do…Not…Own…The…X…Men**

**Me: *hangs head and repeats in a small voice* I…do…no…own…the…x…men**

**Trask: Sorry I can't hear you could you repeat that?**

**Me: *louder* I do not own the X-Men but I do own my own Acolytes and when I take over the world You're going DOWN!!! And ROMY and the X-Men will be MINE!!! MWAHAHAHAHA!**

***Trask hangs his head in shame and walks off***

**Trask: some people are just insane…good thing I'm blissfully normal**

**Trask's Internal Crazy Voice: Yeah…just keep telling yourself that mate…**

**Trask: I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!!!**

**AN: Oh how I amuse myself…Ok it wasn't that funny but I was bored and I really like the disclaimer convos that some writers have so I thought I'd have a go at my own. It has been a while my followers has it not but I hope you appreciate this chapter as it is the longest I have ever written! And I apologise because I was slightly mean, I gave you a chapter but have revealed nothing about what's really going on. It's genius really, quite devious but I promise I will reveal more next chapter. I was going to on this chapter but the psyches that give me inspiration went mental and next thing I know I've got this beauty of a chapter. Hope you like and now for my lovely reviewers because I just love replying to you guys, it's a guilty pleasure. xxx**

**Tfobmv18: **Princess Bride is INSANE I love it! All those who disagree…Prepare to DIE! I love Inigo he's hilarious! Great to find another fan! As for the rest you'll just have to wait and see!

**Laceylou: **Oh! Oh! I have one…mental!?! Don't worry I have planed a whole 26 chapters of this story so there better be more ROMY *confers with internal voices* yep DEFINITELY more Romy! There are No more flashbacks planned I don't think, we're finally reaching the meat of the story so I think the rest is present tense but there may be a few X-Men flashbacks to flesh out the relationships and shiz! I send you love my Acolyte and a hope that you continue to review as I enjoy them profusely! (You like? I learnt it this morning)

**InspirationandStrife: **COOL! I think you're my first criticizer but I'm not sure, this is so much fun! (no sarcasm intended) Trask isn't really torturing them, but it seems like he is to Rogue and Remy, actually he's being more like Mengele than Hitler (look him up, I used him a lot in inspiration for Trask's character, he's pretty ruthless) It's great that your enjoying it enough to help me improve and I hope you continue to do so in the future. Pain's fun to descripe because I have such a low threshold for the stuff, so it I get a papercut I'm probably in as much pain a Rogue was last chapter, I know, its really wimpy and really unfortunate for someone as clumsy as me but they do say write what you know so…*shrugs*

**Alexmonalisa: **How were your comics? I'm enjoying my cliffhangers they're actually kinda fun, I wonder if this chapter counts as a cliffy too? You have to let me know.

**Fostersb: **hehehe! You sound really frustrated! I shall reveal it all soon, but not quite just yet. I hope this chapter helps with your aggravation about what the X-Men are doing.

**Dragonfly422: **Well hi! Welcome to my world of the insane, I can see you're welcome here with your little evil laugh…nice, hope you continue to enjoy the story and please…review again.

**Jewel and Koal: **Hello friend (you are a loyal reviewer so I consider you a friend) thank you very much my ego is inflating to a very nice size from your compliment. Well siblings must be taught their place, older or younger? I have a younger sister so I know all about fighting over things. Tell your brother (1) Don't hate me, I'm insane, it's a bad idea to hate a crazy person, (2) X-Men are posers they've got nothing on the Acolytes, especially my ones and (3) How dare he I will happily help you beat him to death if you need help just drop a review. Can't wait to read your story, let me know when it's done. P.S. so I just went onto your profile to see if you had actually posted any thing and now I'm insanely happy because apparently I ROCK! WHOOOO! YOU TOTALLY ROCK TOO DUDE! FAR OUT! Plus this is one of your fave Romys O-O that is SO COOL! You are by far my favourite reviewer! (Sorry but to everyone else but to have that in writing on someone's profile is the best compliment I've ever had a bout my writing and now I sound all sappy so I'm going to stop) Plus please do write, I agree with your friends, it's actually kinda cool to have other people reading your stuff even if it is a bit daunting at times, trust me…

**Gambit the Bandit: **hehe! Cool name! Sorry I made you cry but that makes me so happy! I hope you enjoy the rest of it and continue to cry in the future! People lie, tears are good!

**Rogue181: **Thanks for the review! Sorry but I'm having a complete mind blank and I don't actually have the rest of the story on me right now 'cause I'm doing this on a different computer so which torment line do you mean? And I will be happy to tell.

**Other mentions: **

**LadyMageLuna**

**ChamberlinofMusic**

I would also like to welcome my newcomers:

**Peppymint**

**Catlady172**

**Smiles420**

**PrincessRhia **

**Did you know that I've had 15 reviews since I last updated!?! That is the most I've ever gotten in one go! I'm on 92! NIGHTY EFFIN TWO! This has got to be the best writing day I've ever had, I mean picture this: I get in after a hard day helping my mum at her work (I know, I'm an Angel), I dump my bags, start up my computer to do a bit of writing, check to see if my fave stories have been updated, decide to see whether I have any new reviews and then proceed to fall on the floor from joy and shock! This is SOO COOL! I hope I can get past 100! But let's get to the story, that is the real reason you're here, not to listen to my crazy ramblings.**

~I have said to you to speak the truth is a painful thing. To be forced to tell **lies** is much worse.~

~Oscar Wilde, Irish writer, 1854 – 1900~

A whole week had gone by since the X-Men had discovered that the government was behind Rogues kidnapping and now they were more frustrated than ever. Kitty had burned through 3 computers looking for more information, Logan was working everyone harder than ever in "preparation" for rescuing Rogue and Scott had put a ban on anyone leaving the house in case they were taken as well, the Professor had become too despondent to try and stop any of them.

"Logan my orders clearly state that I am not allowing any member of this household to leave the mansion for as I am leader of the X-Men it is my duty to keep everybody safe and I can't do that if you just up and leave because you feel like it"

*SNIKT* Logan's claws slid out of his knuckles and he held them to Scott's throat with menace and hatred burning in his eyes as his other hand was lifting him off the ground by a good 6 inches.

"Now I'm gonna tell you something bub and I want you to listen real good got it?"

Scott gulped and nodded slightly, too afraid to speak but mindful of the adamantium blades that were millimetres away from slicing through his exposed neck.

"You may be leader of the X-Men but I am a member of staff, nancy-boy so unlike the poor kids round here I don't have to listen to any of your bull, I'm not just up and leaving I'm going to talk to a contact who knows something about Trask because I actually care about getting Stripes back, not just about protecting my own arse and whats that crap about keeping everybody safe? Where were you Shades, when Rogue had been missing for a whole day? What was it you said? 'I'm sure she's fine, she's probably off sulking about some new goth, vampire freak crap, she'll be back soon, don't worry about it'" Logan mimicked Scott's voice to perfection "You don't deserve to have ever been in her presence from the way you spoke about her, you are just a piece of hypocritical shite that is standing in the way of me getting my daughter back and right now I wouldn't think twice about removing your head apart from the fact that Rogue for some reason used to like you and I would hate to see her hurt when I finally get her back, now MOVE!" He dropped the snivelling teen, pushed past him and strode out the front door, slamming it behind him leaving a houseful of shocked mutants behind him.

"Scott, did you really say that?" asked Sam, the only other Southerner in the house who had loved Rogue like an older sister and missed their late night chats about the South and their weekly cooking sessions trying to outdo the other on how much spice they could take, with hurt in his eyes. The ashamed leader hung his head.

"You bastard, how could you? Rogue was messed up, who wouldn't be with her powers but she was always good to everyone! She stood up for you when Duncan was pulverising you, she helped Kurt with his girlfriend even before she found out he was her sister, she helped Jamie with his French homework every night even though she had her own work to do, she made me feel like I had a home here, I think everyone here can think of something kindhearted that she did for them, especially you, because that's the kind of person that she was…IS and you just turn around and call her a 'goth, vampire, freak' your just as bad as every other anti-mutant bigot out there, just as bad as the people who have her who are probably torturing her because you may not have every physically hurt her but you damn well did it emotionally, I'm ashamed of you." He spat on the ground as though he was trying to get rid of the nasty aftertaste that talking to Scott left in his mouth and walked away shaking his head in disbelief that anyone could ever hurt someone as good as Rogue. The rest of the house stared at Cyclops and one by one they muttered an insult and walked away. Soon only Kitty, Kurt and Jean were left standing there.

Kitty was in floods of tears, "How could you Scott? How…" she ran off crying, more determined than ever to find her friend so they could beat him up together.

Kurt who's face was usually full of laughter until Rogue's disappearance was grim "_Mien Schwester_ is too good to have ever looked upon _Ihr unwürdiges Gesicht_ **(your unworthy face)**, _Ich hoffe, dass Gott Ihnen verzeiht, weil ich nie, ich, Rogue lieben und ihren Rücken wollen, so werde ich fortsetzen, Sie zu dulden, aber wenn wir ihren Rücken haben, werden Sie aufhören, für mich, Sie Bastard zu bestehen _**(I hope that God forgives you because I never will, I love Rogue and I want her back so I will continue to tolerate you but when we do get her back you will cease to exist for me, you bastard)**" His anger clearly shown as he had regressed back to German, Scott may not have known exactly what he was saying but he got the gist, and as Kurt walked away Scott turned his face to the love of his life, tears streaming down his face and waited for her reaction.

"I can't say anything Scott, I don't deserve to because what you said was almost exactly what I was thinking at the time, every day since I have been so mortified about it , and what everyone just said just now, they should have said it to me as well. You see all the time she was here I never thought about what she was going through, I just saw a sulky girl full of a hatred that I couldn't comprehend and I never tried to, I made it look as though I did, but I was always caught up in my little drama's about you that I never really made a real effort. I never saw what heart she had, how she affected everyone's lives here. She hated me, I know that, thought I was Little Miss Perfect and resented me for it but she still helped me, like with the Bayville Sirens and when I lost control of my powers. Do you know what she said to me when I asked her why she had done it? She said it was because I would have done the same for her, but, I'm not sure I would have. So I will stand by you, not because I agree with what you said but because we are the same. Now why don't you go wash your face and then hide your car, I think I picked up some vengeful thoughts from a few people."

He went off to do as she had suggested feeling disgusted with himself, all this time he had loved her, not as much as he loved Jean of course, but he was always scared of his feelings for her and so he had shown it as distain for the beautiful young woman and those hateful words he had said after she went missing had haunted him everyday that she was gone, and now everyone knew what had been eating away at his soul and why he needed to get her back, to apologise about everything, to tell her that he did love her even though he couldn't be with her and to beg for her forgiveness. After he had completed Jean's instructions the Danger Room called out to him, so he spent the rest of the day working thought his self-loathing and shame.

The day went by slowly for everyone after that, all of them wanting it to finally end so they could move past it and get back to looking for Rogue so everybody busied themselves with activities that would numb their fuming minds such as tiding bedrooms and food shopping making the mansion more organised than it had ever been before.

**R&R&R&R&R&R&R**

_Please could all X-Men members assemble in my study there is some new information to be shared with you all. _The Professors weary voice announced in everyone's minds. Soon the whole team had assembled in the warm room. Kitty and Kurt next to each other on the couch with Evan lunging on arm (**AN: I like Spyke so the whole Morlocks thing never happened OK?**). The newest member Angel was stood near the doorway, he had joined as soon as he'd heard of Rogue's kidnapping saying that he felt grateful to her and considered her a good friend, and apparently they had conversed a few times since the Christmas recruitment assignment with Cyclops. Beast and Storm were seated in the two armchairs that had recently been moved into the office due to the many meetings that were now held there, while Logan and the Professor were situated behind the large desk. Jean and Scott were also in the room but they stood slightly apart from the rest of the group further into the corner than the rest. They were all waiting for the phone to be picked up.

"Do you have news?" was the immediate response after the phone had been picked up. The voice of Lance Alvers demanded through the speaker phone, the rest of the Brotherhood could be heard in the background. As soon as they were informed of the incident the Brotherhood had offered to help in any way to get their "sister" back, they had explained that they couldn't formally join the X-Men due to fear of repercussions from Magneto but they would do everything in their power to help Rogue as she was part of their family. Even Wanda had agreed, although she and Rogue had only had a handful of conversations they had been on the way to forming a strong friendship due to their similar tastes in books, music and their general outlook on life, both were loving girls who had been betrayed by the world and so forced to hide themselves away and Wanda truly wanted to stop Rogue from being hurt even more.

"Logan and Miss Pryde have unearthed some very promising new information and were just about to share it with everyone, Logan, why don't you start?"

Logan stepped forward and began to recite what he had discovered with military precision. "Ok, Chuck, I got a call today from an old contact of mine from S.H.I.E.L.D. he'd heard that I was looking for dirt on Trask from one of my other connections and thought he'd give me a little help. Apparently Trask's full name is Bolivar Trask, he's pretty high up in the government food chain, but not too high, soothing like, the whole of the White House would have to die and then he'd be in power but I'm not sure. His title is the Secretary of Internal Defence meaning if there was a Civil War he would co-ordinate the protection of the Government from the opposing party, he's also the guy in charge if America's mutant population ever tried to attack the presidency. He's a key player but according to my source lately he's been working on a Top Secret project that S.H.I.E.L.D. have no real knowledge of as it isn't part of their jurisdiction however Trask was granted permission to construct his own private facilities somewhere in the country, but again they have no idea where it is." Logan finished his report with a frustrated grunt and stepped back into his previous position.

"Thank you Logan" The information hadn't been perfect in anyway but it gave them insight an idea as to what they should be looking for; a new governmental facility that had been built in the last year under the jurisdiction of Internal Defence and Bolivar Trask. "Kitty, is there anything you'd like to add?"

"Yes actually," unlike Wolverine Kitty didn't move from her position on the couch, her only action to acknowledge that she was addressing the rest of the room was to look up from studying her shoes. Her eyes darted around the room, constantly looking back to the phone, where her ex-boyfriend waited on the other side of the line, she had broken it off with him due to her guilt about Rogue, but she still loved him and as soon as Rogue was returned to them she couldn't wait to run all the way to the Brotherhood Boarding House where they all still lived, throw herself into his arms and beg for forgiveness. "I looked into Police files to start with as they're the easiest to get into and usually hold more information than people think and I found something. At the beginning of the year Trask's wife and two kids were murdered and he claims that it was mutants in retaliation as he is a pretty vocal Anti-mutant. Even though there was never any proof, however the evidence files seem to point towards Trask; the gun was his and recently during routine testing from DNA samples taken during the autopsies all the victims contained the X gene that causes mutations. I think that the police are too afraid to arrest such a high standing member of the Government. I've started to look into the government files and I found that Trask is also the inventor of the Sentinels, proof that he's the guy we're looking for. I'll look into this new facility but it might take a while as it sounds, like, kinda confidential." The whole room looked at Kitty shocked, that had been the first time since Rogue was taken that she had ever used an unnecessary "like" in a sentence.

Lance groaned "Oh great, it's like a bad horror movie 'Return of the Valley Girl'" he quipped in a light hearted manor and the room burst into laughter. Even Warren who had never been there during Kitty's 'normal' days appreciated the joke because of his phone calls and e-mails with Rogue. They finally had a real lead, a glimmer of hope shining through their clouds of depression. But soon Logan's mobile rang (something he had been forced to buy by Rogue, so they could keep in contact when he did his Lone Wolf thing) he answered, listened for a while, grunted and then hung up.

"Sorry to interrupt our little 'moment' but a friend of mine who's a doctor called, an associate of his was just called in by a government worker to arrange for him to do brain surgery on a young woman as their original neurosurgeon had to suddenly drop out, he thought I'd be interested because the area he's operating on is the part that controls mutations, he thinks that it might be Rogue."

**AN: I've noticed while writing that I am really English sounding, it's a really random thing to say as I am English but it makes it kind of awkward writing about Americans because we sound really different…may have to work on that *makes a mental note to watch more Two and a Half Men and X-Men (of course!)* I hope Jott (Scott and Jean) lovers out their aren't too pissed but I never really liked their characters in Evo, they were Ok in The Animated 90s stuff and everything but in Evo they were SO perfect and SO preppy and SO nauseating! So I may have had a little rant…sorry, please don't hate me! I like them really…maybe…Anyway, it adds to the drama so you can't really complain…can you? **

**REVIEW or I will have Trask electrocute YOU too!!!**


	12. AN

Sorry I'm going on holiday for 2 weeks so I may not update for a while

SO SORRY

Bloodandvanity

xxx


	13. Laceration

**AN: Hello my loyal followers, I declare an International Holiday for I have OVER 100 REVIEWS!!! I am extremely proud of you my Acolytes for spreading my message. But first I must apologies for my Fake Chapter before and for being away for so long. Please forgive me… But because I was away for so long I seem to have developed a severe case of writers block *NOOOOOO….* AH! Even my rants are disjointed today. I suck!!! *Extreme pouting!!!* I must beg you for mercy; I decided to post it anyway to see how it goes. That's how I started this fic in the first place anyway.**

**DISCLAIMER: Actually I do own Remy, I went and begged Trask and he released him into my custody so he is now MY prisoner, to do with as I will. Hmm…I wander what I should have him do first *insert your own Remy fantasy here* … Sorry seems I fell into the realms of delusions there…just to clarify I don't actually own Remy he belongs to Marvel *more pouting***

**Reviewers: **Thank you for your reviews and loyalty. Welcome to all newcomers.

**Laceylou76: **I happen to like my disclaimers thank you very much, and how do I know this isn't a ploy for you to try and take the world from me, huh? Scooter is he's just such a prissy little girl (to all boys reading this I am a girl and so allowed to insult someone by calling them a girl but you are not!) We'll see about the maiming though I may not like him but there are many out there who do and we wouldn't want a revolt or something.

**Fostersb: **I love Sam I always thought that as the only two Southerners in the house that he and Rogue would be close so I just had to put that in. Of course it's just a crush. Ewww. A moment of insanity on her part I'm sure. But I have to admit that when I watch Evo there are just a few things that Scott does that make it seem like he likes her in return. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it but I thought that to see it from his point of view would be a nice change. I'm glad you appreciated it.

**Kaze no Ato: **Hi! I'm really exited I'm finally over 100 reviews its amazing! Thank you so much for your contribution!

**Misunderstood: **No don't die! Look, look a lovely new chapter for you! Logan's great. Don't tell anyone but wasn't always this die hard Gambit fan he actually used to be my favourite before I knew about Remy :O! But don't worry Scott's always been an *** to me.

**Dragonfly422: **Well my world is the best world. A lot better than the Hero worlds they've got in Legoland and places like that. Scott bashing is a great way of relieving stress. But I do think its possible to sound English when writing like not using little words like "trash can" when it's a bin and the really creepy American word: "panties" *shudder*. But I don't know whenever I re-read my stuff and then read someone else's work I sound so….English. It's weird, maybe it's just how I write. Everyone's different. Well have fun in my world! You should try the log flume, always fun to get wet on a sunny day and it's always sunny in my world, apart from when it's raining! *slightly insane giggling*

**Sibbytora: **I am honoured that this is your first review. It's great that you're protective of your characters, I'm the same way. Thank you I like to stick to the characters it really annoys me when people completely change them 'cause somehow I feel that that isn't really a fanfic. If you're going to do that why not just write a completely different story. (Sorry personal rant, I get a bit carried away sometimes). On to the critique: first thank you for bringing this to my attention I tend to write how I speak and so don't realise about the grammar, but actually that line's kinda funny now that I actually read it! Remy's accent in Evo really confused me; it was like he was trying to be a Cajun hiding his accent? Now the German…I have never done German before so I used an online translator and it seems to have backfired. I've had another review about that so I'm going to change it as soon as I can because that person was kind enough to re-translate that whole bit for me. Thank you so much for the review and good luck to you for your exams. Hope you're having a good summer!

**PrincessRhia: **The Romy will come don't worry it'll be better next chapter I promise. It's all planned out. The healing mutant (I think I named them Mutant #7) I think is dead. I hope I mentioned it, but they may be mentioned later….

**ONIX – 21: **WOOOO! 100th REVIEWER!!!! You're portrait is so going on the money when I finally take over!!! Thank you once again for the review!

**Jewel and Koal: **My favourite reviewer. As I said on my review to you your fic is great and JONDA is always good. Can't wait for more from you and I hope you enjoy mine. I pity your brother but we can't all be brilliant. He's just been brainwashed by all the Disney products that try to lead us to believe that you have to be good and perfect and then all will be happy and smiley. They just don't understand that it's the grey area that make like interesting. (How cool and philosophical do I sound?). Maybe a bit too deep for my usual lunacy but there is a fine line between genius and insanity.

**Swytla: **Oops…sorry about the German, when I get a change I'll switch it for your correction. Thanks for that by the way, I've never done German before so I had to resort to the translator. It's amazing that you want to help and I'll definitely be taking you up on that. Hope you continue to enjoy my work.

**Alexmonaliza: **"Psychotically challenged" is classic I can't wait to use it in the future. I have a great quote for you: I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it! I may need to get me a pole it sounds fun. One Tree Hill is great I love it, I have most of it on DVD but I've never watched 90210 all I know is that one of the women off the show are in New Moon (Second Twilight Saga film for all the non-Twilight fans, don't worry I'm not one of the completely obsessed groupies, I LOVE the books but I wasn't really that impressed by the film, too much hype, not enough follow through). Hope there was enough Rogue here for you, it's a bit wacky and will probably get more so in the future but the next chappie is all Rogue POV I think.

**Tfobmv18: ***Gasp* you got the joke, I thought it was too obscure, I hope you notice the other in this chapter, just my way of amusing myself so don't worry about your humour. I'm the same way.

**GardenRiver: **:D…I like my rants too, they amuse me greatly but sometimes I worry if they're too much? I'm sorry but cheese is good, it's on pizza and cheesecake and Doritos so you can't complain! Chapter 10 is loads of people's favourites it seems and I love it too. Go in peace (where is that from? It's in my mind constantly and I never know why!)

**UltimateGammy91: **Hmm…like I said before I write how I speak and I talk quite a bit so I'll try that full stop thing but it may just be my style, I always thought that I overused commas though...I may need to investigate that one…I'm a fanfic spaz it took me three days to learn how to actually post stories (computers hate me too) so the whole beta thing may be a bit of a stretch for my abilities so I'll just have to pay more attention to my writing. But I've never been a good speller. Thanks for the points it's great that you like the story.

**Wanda W: **HI! Wow it's like welcoming back an old friend that I haven't seen in a while so Welcome Back! They always say write what you know so I'm glad you like the my flashback epiphany thing I always do that and I thought that the Romy relationship has always been about them "healing" each other because they've both had pretty hard lives. Hope you like how the story progresses.

**And to those that I haven't answered but that I still appreciate thank you greatly: ChamberlinofMusic, LadyMageLuna, b.a.n.h.s.f.c.. and LaLaLadyBug67**

**Laceration**

~Real pain can alone cure us of imaginary ills. We feel a thousand miseries till we are lucky enough to feel misery~

~Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English Poet, 1772 – 1834~

**Trask POV**

Sitting in my office I once again watched the Mutant named Remy LeBeau beg my project to awaken. He had been at it ever since she had returned from the operating table. It was quite amusing actually. I had ordered one of the guards to inform Mr. LeBeau that Miss Darkholme was unconscious and the time of her awakening was unknown. I was rather annoyed by that, it seems that the replacement surgeon I had requested after my disagreement with Dr. Jacobs wasn't as capable as I had been told and there had been a complication during the surgery, a small nick to the medulla had caused the subject to go into a minor coma, halting all my plans, obviously Dr. Slain was "fired" immediately. The only beneficial piece of news was that the surgery had been a complete success.

It seems that there had been an infinitesimal amount of scar tissue pressing on the section of the brain that controls its mutation. We discovered that this had been received in the car crash that had killed Owen and Pricilla D'Ancanto when she was but a child, it also caused minor memory loss meaning so that her life before the crash was all forgotten. The tissue would have been of no importance had the stress of the manifestation of her mutant powers not caused it to deteriorate slightly meaning that her ability was permanently in effect. I had noticed the slight anomaly a few days back while studying some routine MRIs, it had been the break that I had been waiting for. The perfect opportunity to finally put my plans into action, but now all my arrangements have been in vain.

"Guard, please fetch Mutant #12 and transport them to Examining Room 8"

Maybe a good exploratory surgery would calm me down. If not I could always try some Target Practice on the unneeded prisoners. I hadn't had any in a while and we wouldn't want to get rusty now would we?

**Remy POV**

"Rogue? …. Marie? …. Chere? …. Please wake up … I can't lose you … I … I ….I love you … you're mon ange … please … lemme hear that belle voice of yours…please?"

The pain of not knowing what was going to happen was more intense than anything that the scientists had done to him during his whole stay in Mutant Hell. His Rogue was in a coma. He had no idea when she would wake up, if she ever would, and he was sitting there begging her unconscious body to talk to him like it was one of their normal days. He couldn't cope with the uncertainty, the worry that was ripping his insides to shreds. He was visibly shaking, close to tears, gripping his hair as though it was his last lifeline. He needed to reach out, to touch her but the thick concrete walls of the detention centre denied him the one assurance that she was still here, still alive. But he would hold out. He would keep talking to his love, he would give her something to hold on to, something she could use to claw her way out of the darkness.

**Rouge POV**

"Rogue? What're yah doing here?"

Before me stood Cody. His blue eyes stared at me questioningly hidden slightly by his pale blond hair. The blond hair that was ruffled by the slight breeze that was blowing over the grassy plane we were standing on.

Breeze? Grassy plane? What the heck is going on here? Where am I? Why is Cody here? Where's Remy?

…

I think I'm going to hyperventilate. My tough chick attitude was thrown outta the window. Right now I didn't care. The last thing I remember was… Pain and colour and now I was here…Where here was I didn't know, but it was pretty in a clichéd sort of way: rolling, grassy hills, Weeping Willows clustered along the banks of winding river and a small whitewashed house complete with a picket fence.

"What am Ah doing here, what are yah dong here, yah're in a coma? And where's here anyway!?!"

"We're in yah mind, and Ah hate to break it to yah but yah in a coma too,"

WHAT!!!

"Ah'm in a coma…yah're a psyche? Dang…Ah…Ah need to wake up…let me outta here!!!"

"Ah can't --"

"No yah don't understand Ah need to get ta Remy, he'll be worried…Gawd he might think Ah'm dead … Please let me wake up!"

"Ah've got nothing to do with yah waking up or not, it's all because of that surgery"

"Surgery?"

"Yeah, yah didn't know?"

"If Ah knew ah wouldn't be asking yah about it would ah?"

"The Bitch is back" Cody muttered under his breath

"Just cause Yah part of mah head doesn't mean Ah can't kick yah arse!" This was insane he just told me I'd just had a surgery that I had no idea about it and he's expecting me to be all sunshine and bunny rabbits. How did he know about it anyway, he's part of my mind and I don't know about it so how come he does? "Whatever, just…do you have any idea of how Ah could wake up?"

"No idea but Ah think the answer is in the house"

"Why would it be in the house?"

"Because in all the time Ah've been here that house has signified your conscious state and rahgt (right) now its locked, maybe if you get in the house then yah can get back in control."

"Ah'll try anything rahgt (right) now!" Rogue was still perplexed by the imagery. She had never been into psychology and usually tuned out the Professors psychobabble. She was kicking herself now, maybe if she'd paid more attention she'd know how to wake up. She needed to get back to Remy, she'd finally realised in that split second between the unconsciousness and pain that she loved the Cajun thief and she wasn't going to lose him now.

She agreed with Cody to investigate the two story home that lay a little way from where they were standing. What was the worse that could happen? She was already in a coma.

As they grew closer to the house Rogue started to notice the familiarity of the building. But she couldn't place why, there was just a slight tugging sensation telling her that she should remember it but she just unable to do so. The thoughts just wouldn't quite line up in her mind. She dismissed it as unimportant, right now all she was worried about was waking up and getting to Remy, not working out how buildings related to her state of mind. They reached the front door and paused.

"Well try the door then…" Cody pressed.

"Yah said it was locked"

"For me but not for yah." Things were getting more and more confusing. Maybe she should have taken the Professor up on talking to a councillor. From her brief look into her mind her one conclusion was that she was insane.

"That doesn't make sense."

"It yah're mind." And with that Cody opened the door and pushed her inside. Once again she was falling into darkness and once again her last thought was of Remy.

**Gaaah! I know where I want it to go but it has a mind of its own and just keeps going off on a tangent *lightning flashes, organ chords, IT'S ALIVE!!!* I apologies profusely but you're gonna have to deal with it because I am past caring now. I'm in a caravan, its 12:30 in the morning and the internet connection is as temperamental as the weather and I'm only updating because I happened to find a tiny hotspot where I am. Right I'm really irritated now because my computer keeps coming up with these lovely messages saying "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" if I so much as shift in my seat moving the laptop on my…lap by a millimetre and you're all probably extremely fed up of my whining and insecurity so I'm going to change the subject.**

**Errrr…. What did you guys dream about last night?.... o~O**

**If you enjoyed this chapter then I am amazed so you have to review to tell me if this really is as bad as I think or if I'm being my usual neurotic artist self and there is actually some good in it.**

**REVIEW OR MY CRAZY WILL RUB OFF ON YOU!!!**


	14. Malaise

**AN: Why Hello! Welcome to another episode of Crazy gone Romy. **

**Seems the last chapter wasn't as bad as I thought it was, hopefully it was just another minor meltdown. The block is breaking slightly so hopefully this is better than last time. I just finished watching Mirrormask (A great but slightly odd film from Neil Gaiman the guy who wrote Stardust) and was inspired by the insanity so it may be reflected in this chapter, I loved the surreal of Rogue's mind so bare with the crazy. Oh! And I'm going home tomorrow so updates may be more frequent because I will have decent internet! YEY!**

**DISCLAIMER: **

**Me: Knock Knock**

**Random Lawyer: Who's there?**

**Me: Vic**

**Random Lawyer: Vic who?**

**Me: Vic a card, any card HAHAHAHAHA!!!**

**Random Lawyer: What are you doing?**

**Me: Laughing at a joke?**

**Random Lawyer: You're supposed to be doing a disclaimer…**

**Me: Really? Are you sure? I swear that we were telling jokes because you told me that I didn't own Remy and that was the best joke I'd heard in months**

**Random Lawyer: But you don't own him and you need to admit it so you don't get sued **

**Me: Oh! Well no one like to get sued…fine….the X-Men including Remy and Trask and all the other lovely bad guys and characters all unfortunately belong to Marvel…There how's that?**

**Random Lawyer: Good enough**

**(I know the joke isn't that funny but its all I could come up with on short notice…I don't work well under pressure…stop staring at me!!! I know I'm odd…GO AWAY!...YOU'RE SCARING ME!!!)**

**Reviewers: **

**GardenRiver: **It's good to see my crazy is corrupting other minds. Shame you can't remember your dream, I nearly always remember mine and usually they're inspiration for new stories. I'm kinda enjoying my tangent, it's letting me sort everything out so that ending will make more sense and it explains stuff for you viewers at home. Trask is too evil for words but I love him that way and I'm glad my humour is appreciated, sometimes I worry it's too much. Enjoy!

**LaceyLou76: **But I am a friend to karma and all things connected to cosmic fate! *pout*. I love the list each point made me happier than the last! Hope you like this update, as I said before the block is cracking so hopefully it'll be gone soon!

**Sibbytora: **AUSTRALIAN!!! How could they do such a blasphemous thing! The only Australian there should ever be in X-Men is St. John! When it comes to characterisation, take my advice that has been hidden somewhere in the chapter….:O……No critique is a good thing really, it means I'm doing my job well……I don't want an awkward silence so how about……PSYCHO RULES!!!!

**Wanda W: **Ah! Too many questions to answer all at once, 3 reviews are a lot to answer in one reply. Right most of them will be answered in this chapter I hope…I feel bad for hurting Remy like that and there will be a bit from his POV next time I think. Of course Rogue will help the other mutants she wouldn't be an X-man otherwise, its part of the code. Things will get better for the other X-Men but I won't make it too easy on them. I'm really glad that you're enjoying the relationship, between Rogue and Remy emotions where always the key because of her powers. They were always a barrier between the physical relationship so I thought that to have an actual barrier would make it progress better than it ever did in the multiple series. It's good to see that I'm doing it justice. Trask is the personification of every thought I've ever had on the mass murders of our race: Hitler, Stalin, Mengele even serial killers. These people are always proved to be "mentally unstable" or "just following orders" so I thought it would be interesting to have a bad gut that was just evil no excuses just plain old evil. However I think I've made him out to be too insane, oh well, you can't have everything. I'm just glad that you're enjoying it, and your insights are really stretching me to really look into my work and reasoning's so Thank you.

**Tfobmv18: **I feel sorry for Mutant #12 too. I was stuck at one point during this chappie and I started writing a comedy oneshot called "REVENGE OF No. 12!" to keep me occupied while wracking my brain for how to keep going on this chappie. I might publish it after I've finished this….Anyway thanks for the review and remember Bizarre is Better!

**b.a.h.s.f.c..****: **WOW! You really do have anger issues! I always felt sorry for Cody and I really feel that he's forgotten by some writers so I just had to include him, even if it was just for a little while. Thanks for the review. Hope to hear from you soon.

**AnimeFreak218: **Welcome New Reader! I have learnt from the crappy connection and I will never complain about my internet at home ever again! I'm glad you liked the chapter, hope you like this on too.

**I-love-red-head-ninjas: **YEY! Virtual cookie! XD It's great that you like it so much ROMY is AMAZING! And I love Kurtty shame that I'm doing a Lance and Kitty pairing in this, I just liked Kurt's girlfriend in the series. :( Trask really worries me; I'm scared he's so evil he might come out of the computer just to kill me :O Keep reading and reviewing! P.S. I love your name *hehehe*

**Kaze no Ato: **I cry when I write it sometimes so its great that I make you guys cry too, that sounds odd, I mean, I like that my writing gets the emotions across because that's what the stories all about, emotional understanding and shiz…hope you enjoy!

xxx

**LadyMageLuna: **Ha! More insane people to keep me company! Rogue's mind is fun, she's slightly insane too. Have fun with your insanity!

**Wolf mage: **I think I'm a magnet for crazy people; all my reviewers seem to be. Great you're enjoying yourself!

**missunderstood: **I think it's odd that I write the evil character the best don't you?....I like changing POV it's fun and gives different perspectives, two sides to every story and that. Nice evil laugh but not as good as his *!Lightning, scary organ, screams!* MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

**Kii: **hmm….I don't know how to take that…..are you royalty or something?.....I control Trask so you can't threaten me like that…….By the way, I think that you have forgotten that I am Your ruler!!! You really are insane to try and stand up to me!....and that is a slightly odd dream but if it happened while you were asleep than I guess it is one….

**Your Ruler**

**Bloodandvanity**

**xxx**

**To my other reviewers, I love you greatly and can't wait to hear from you in the future. They make me warm and fuzzy inside and give me all the inspiration I need to keep writing.**

**InspirationandStrife**

**ChamberlinofMusic**

**Cullenlover-1901**

**My-Angel-Wings**

**Fostersb**

**ONIX-21**

**Jewel and Koal (although you didn't review you shall be mentioned because I miss your words)**

**Malaise**

There is no coming to consciousness without pain~

~Carl Jung, Swiss Psychiatrist, 1875 – 1961~

I was on sensory overload. I was still in darkness but I could smell smoke, not the lovely woody smoke that came from the fires we had back at the mansion during the winter, but the smoke that came from petrol, almost like car fumes but slightly cleaner. I could feel hard rock beneath me hinting at the outdoors and a dry, sour taste was on my tongue exactly the same as when I wake up after sleeping with my mouth open all night. All this added to the biggest hangover of all time was enough to leave me dizzy and bewildered. All I could gather was that I wasn't with Remy yet, but there was someone else here as a giggle drifted towards me through the confusion.

Eventually Rogue was able to open her eyes and what she saw made her close them again and groan. Before her the Australian Acolyte sat crossed legged and grinning manically as he flew a flaming dragon around a small dark cave. A stray thought flitted across her mind. What happened to the house? However that was quashed by the fact that she still wasn't awake and now I'm stuck with a madman, great, just bloody fantastic.

"Oi! Sheila! You awake yet?"

"Yeah, Ah'm up"

"Ace! I was worried I might need to call for an Ambo, not that we would get one seeing as we're in you're head but you never know. Ever sucked up a doctor or something? It would be great if you had a nurse, oh the fun I could have…" He petered off into the realm of fantasy.

"You are not having sex in mah head!"

"Well it's not like you're getting any!" And once again he was lost to the world, but not before he had converted his dragon into a school of fish that were now swimming in formation, sometimes spelling out words or joining together to form a larger picture.

After a while Rogue started to get worried. It had been a long time and he still hadn't returned from the clouds. She was about to ask if he was Ok when he spoke.

"What was the last thing you ate?"

"What?"

"Well you know they say "you are what you eat" well that means I'm a bikkie (biscuit) so I was wondering what you were."

"Are yah just slightly mad or criminally insane?"

The orange haired pyromaniac considered her for a while with a sobered expression, so long in fact that Rogue was worried that he had become lost in his thoughts once more. "You're not the only one who hears voices Sheila, but that doesn't mean we're insane. I've tried that. They give you the pills and send you on your merry way. You spend the next year feeling as though you're in a fog. Living but not quite there, not quite affected by the outside world, not even when your girlfriend runs off with another bloke. So don't judge what you don't understand Chook (chicken). I live the way I live and I like it." Rogue stood shocked. Granted she'd never spoken much with John. Just the occasional insult slinging while fighting, the usual banter between enemies, but she'd always thought him insane. Everyone did, he was the Mad Bad Lad from the Land Down Under and wasn't expected to string a meaningful sentence together just to burn stuff. But now it seemed that he had been overlooked and dismissed. It was exactly like she had felt while at the mansion sometimes. Just as the deep moment had come it disappeared as he asked.

"Wanna play?"

"Play what?" Rogue's headache was still pounding away and John's mood swings were tying her in knots.

"I make my fire people and make 'em act something out, like on the telly, come on, give it a burl!" He looked so sweet and boyish as looked up at her, almost bouncing on the floor with the prospect of a new playmate. His eyes shining with a huge grin on his face once more.

"Ok, but Ah'm being a girl, Ah don't wanna put on any stupid voices, Ah'm not in the mood."

"YEY!" The pure, unadulterated happiness on his face made Rogue feel as though there was no trouble what so ever in the world. That nothing could ever hurt them if they stayed in their little bubble, or cave for that matter. She wished that Remy was here to share this feeling with him, he was so tortured. Not just physically but internally, he carried so much with him; guilt, fear, pain and most of all loneliness. To even witness a moment of sheer joy would be the greatest gift that she could ever give to the battered man that had stolen her heart and she was almost heartbroken at the thought that she couldn't give it to him. Maybe if they ever really got out of this, and he wanted to stay with her, they could befriend the eccentric Acolyte, she was tired of fighting them anyway. They were all the same, so what was the point?

"Ah'm sorry about yah girlfriend John, it must have hurt, after…"

"Life is pain Princess, anyone who says differently is selling something, I've got my eye on another bird anyway."

"Really, who?"

"That Wanda chick, she's a real wild one,"

"Yeah, Ah lahke Wanda, we're friends, and if yah hurt her Ah'll hurt yah,"

"Don't worry, I'd never hurt a Sheila, I'll even protect her from the rabbits."

"Rabbits?"

"They're trying to take over the world, the government's keeping it hush hush but its happening." He gave a knowing nod and then proceeded to make his fire people as though everything he had just said was totally normal and made complete and utter sense. "Right, this is Owen." He indicated towards the male fire person, he seemed to be tall with an average build, but that was all Rogue could make out, although the "actor" was perfectly formed he was still made of fire and that meant that the detail was lost. "And this is Pricilla," This time he indicated towards the female figure. Again there was a lack of detail but the "actress" was tall but this time slim and with hair down to her waist.

The tugging sensation had returned but this time with more force. But John just continued with his "stories". "We need to give them a surname." He mused out loud.

"Why?"

"You need to get into the character. This is art, not some village theatre it needs to be perfect. You must soak up the very essence of your role and to do that you must know their every little secret. You must become the character."

"Fahne, how about Cooper?"

"Too plain, I want them to be different, maybe a foreign sounding name?"

"Ducoeur?"

"Too French…I know D'Ancanto!"

The tugging sensation exploded in her mind. Wave upon wave of memories crashed over her fragile being. Picnics, late night movies with popcorn and way too much chocolate, birthdays, Christmases, arguments, hugs and kisses. Family. Eventually they stopped, fading into the background as though they had never been there in the first place.

The light that had been shining in through the entrance to the cave grew brighter and brighter drowning every thing else out. Rogue sat there paralysed with no ideas as to what was happening. Then sounds started to fill her ears, at first she thought it was John but as she looked around the cave he was nowhere in sight.

It was a conversation between two voices that were now burned into her brain: the voices of her mother and father.

"Mum? Dad?" She called into the ever brightening cave. However the voices continued conversing with no recognition of the fact she had spoken. Rogue was still unable to make out every word but sometimes phrases wound jump out at her. From the tone she guessed that they were having an argument.

"How could you?............You're own daughter's birthday…………work obsessed……….nothing more important than family!" Her mother's voice argued. A phantom, whispering and muffled and then loud and clear, ebbing as though the clarity was dictated by the ocean.

"Family is important………..money is important too………lay offs……….boss's been riding me……….sorry………..never happen again………..love my girls" defended her father. His voice had the same fluxing quality but Rogue was unconcerned by it. All that mattered was the words. Each intelligible phase showed that her parents had loved her. That the dreams that she had never dared to wish were a reality had actually been her life. She had had a regular family; love, security, a home.

However the twist in her heart was not grief over the loss of that life. It was grief over the loss of her real family, the X-Men. She had survived fine without parents. She had made her own and she was happy with it.

She had love: her brother Kurt, her father Logan and the other students at Xavier's were a multitude of crazy cousins even the Brotherhood were family.

She had security: she had been shown how to take care of herself, although she had hated the 5am Danger Room sessions she appreciated them, no-one would ever hurt her if she had any say in the matter.

And the mansion was her home, most of the memories that she had that were worth having had been made there. She wanted it back, but knowing that she had once had a "conventional" life soothed a part of her that had always resented others for theirs.

Her thoughts were abruptly cut short by a shout from her mother's ghost voice.

"OWEN!"

With a screech of tires Rogue was thrown against the cave wall, the intense light coming from the entrance so bright now that it burned her eyes. A scream echoed around her, permeating her being, filling her every sense with fear and agony.

The brightness enveloped her world, shutting everything else out and she knew what she had just relived. The beginning of her new life. The death of theirs. This was the day that she had lost her parents. The day she had stopped being Anne D'Ancanto to become Marie Darkholme. But now she was neither, she had lived both those lives and now they were through.

Her life had changed her, but it had made her stronger. She had been it all and yet none of it.

She was Rogue. But she was not alone. She had the X-Men and Remy all she needed now was to return to them both. To break free of her prisons, mental and physical.

She couldn't wait to introduce Remy to Logan.

**AN: So all Rogue there got slightly deep as well... She'll probably be waking up soon, though next chapter will still probably be kinda weird too, I'm enjoying it slightly. Johnny boy's here! I do love him and his insanity! Hope you do too! Thought I might tell you this piece of hilarity, I did that "What Marvel Superhero Are you?" Quiz on facebook and apparently I am GAMBIT!!!! I didn't cheat or anything! I'm jazzed cause I miss Romy as I haven't been reading them so other people's stuff doesn't influence mine. Hope you enjoyed yourselves. We will see you again in our next instalment, same place, don't know about the time though.**

**REVIEW or I will come and blow you up! (Apparently I have the power!)**

**Love you all!**


	15. Nauseous

**AN: O-o I'm so sorry! I've been ill so I didn't have the energy (or the stomach) to update. It isn't swine flu so don't freak. Don't worry I haven't abandoned you just yet, but my mind is beginning to deteriorate! This chapter is a bit short, I needed to do a transition between one phase of the story and the next so please don't get frustrated by this. This chapter is my "Half-Blood Prince" a book that was created just as a filler to explain the story better but generally completely useless. **

**DISCLAIMER: "I have no energy to fight you today Super Lawyer" said the extremely weak teenage girl who was clutching her laptop in order to finish the chapter that she desperately wanted to finish but was taking her so long due to her constant drug induced naps. **

"**But I was up al night making my super villain costume!" pouted the man in a lycra bodysuit which had been customised to look like a normal black business suit. However, the back held the letters S and L in red.**

"**I really don't care super lawyer, I'll admit it, I don't own any of the characters I've used. They all belong to X-Men which belongs to to the geniuses at Marvel! Now go away! I want to sleep!"**

**Reviews: *cough* *cough* *cough* I love you all and I would do my usual replying but I don't have the energy, sorry. But please continue to review because they really do make me feel better to read. I promise, next chapter (which might be up soon, I don't know) I will reply…again thank you for your unwavering support…peace out.**

~Sweet is true love that is given in vain, and sweet is death that takes away pain.~

~Lord Alfred Tennyson, English Poet, 1809 – 1892~

Rogue was close to giving up hope. This was the third time she had blacked out and still she was not in her cell talking to Remy. Hell, she still wasn't even awake yet. She was now in the mansion, the Rec Room to be exact staring at Jean, Kitty and Jubilee; who were all on the couch staring at the TV.

"What are y'all doing?" Rogue asked, almost hoping that she would get some cryptic riddle to solve. She'd had enough of accidentally stumbling on six years worth of forgotten memories. However the three mutant girls ignored her and continued to watch whatever they were watching.

Eventually Kitty sighed and said "like, I wish, Lance would, like do that for me" Jean looked at her quizzically.

"So you wish you were in a coma because you'd had some major brain surgery, organised by some evil psychopath just so you could have Lance talk to you none stop to try to get you to wake up, even though you've never met but are head over heels in love with each other."

"Yeah! It's like so romantic," Kitty sighed again.

"You must have a really boring relationship if you want to be tortured half to death just to get a little romance!" Jubilee scoffed.

"It's not boring, Lance just doesn't seem to, like, understand that there are more places to go on a date than the mall, the park and the movies!" defended Kitty, albeit not very well.

"GUYS!" Rogue shouted it an attempt to gain the girls' attention.

"WHAT!?!" They all shouted back, simultaneously, turning their heads to acknowledge the southerner's presence.

"What are y'all doing?" She repeated, the 'girl time' was already making her feel nauseous.

"We're trying to watch TV, but you're distracting us." Snapped Little Miss Perfect.

Rogue gave up, deciding that she may as well rest for a while, remembering six years of your life after thirteen years of ignorance was not as easy as it looks. Therefore she sat herself down on the floor, avoiding all physical contact with the other three girls out of habit and asked "What are we watching?"

"You." Replied Kitty, nodding her head towards the screen, and sure enough there she on the screen. She lay on the floor of her concrete cell looking as though she was just enjoying a short nap, although the reality of the situation was far more sinister.

A voice had been coming through the TV's speakers the whole time Rogue had been standing but only now did she realise who it was. It was Remy.

"_How about I tell you somet'ing funny, eh chere? I told you about Emil right? Well, he always got us into trouble, almost constantly. One time we were running through an old part of Nawrleans and we found this building, it's tres beau chere, I'll take you there one day…We decided to explore it, being young and not paying attention to the Danger! signs. Emil decidied to play tag so I took of running after him and managed to step on a broken floorboard…I wasn't as…graceful…as I am now and the floor collapsed. I was on the second floor so I grabbed onto the chandelier of the floor below…I just hang there until Emil came with Henri and they took pictures…bâtards…pere had to come and get me down. They use those pictures whenever they want to chantage…blackmail me now."_

Rogue chuckled, shaking her head as her love for Remy intensified. He cared about her enough to keep talking to her even though she was in a coma. He cared enough to tell her embarrassing stories about himself in the hopes of her waking up. He was a good man and she loved him profusely. Hopefully she would get the chance to tell him.

The TV flickered and then turned black.

"WHAT! Where'd he go!?! Bring him back!" Rogue turned towards the three mutants on the couch. The hurt and anger at once again losing Remy burned in her eyes.

They turned and looked at her blankly and answered in a mechanized voice. "We can't"

Rogue's stomach lurched. "Why? Is he Ok? Has something happened?"

Once again they open their mouths, but this time only one voice came out. The voice that was the last thing she'd heard before she had entered the God forsaken unconsciousness she was in. The voice of Bolivar Trask.

"Wakey, Wakey Mutant #10"

Bright light accosted her and her eyes were filled with the sight of her concrete cell.

He underused voice croaked out the single thought that she had on her mind.

"Remy?"

**Random question time, just a thought that popped into my head: How many of you have seen Blade Trinity? It's one of my favourite films cause it's just so craptastic, but I re-watched it the other day (when I wasn't asleep or coughing my guts out) and I was just thinking. Don't you just LOVE Ryan Reynolds as Hannibal King, has to be one of the most hilarious characters ever. There is some justification in my randomness however because that is how I always imagined Emil. Thought I'd let you in on that completely useless piece of information……**

**ANYWAY I promise next chapter will be better!**

**REVIEW or I will give you my sick germs and you too will feel like you've been murdered and then only half brought back to life!**


	16. Oppressive

**AN: I'm still ill!!! I hate the world, but I love fanfiction, without it would have died by now due to boredom and increased insanity caused by said boredom! I think my first order as ruler of the world is to destroy all illness! All in favour say Aye! (Because it is an awesomely cool word!) **

-- **BTW why do they call them headaches? They never feel like your head is aching! For me it's always one of 3 options:**

**1. Stabbing evil pain**

**2. Parts of your brain have exploded**

**3. Your brain had expanded and is now pressing against your skull **

**Hmm…. Lots of love, your undead leader, Bloodandvanity**

**xxx**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**!Gimmie an I! I**

**!Gimmie a DON'T! DON'T**

**!Gimmie an OWN! OWN**

**!THE X-MEN!!!!!**

***AHHH! You people are all to cheery!***

***PSYCHO then proceeds to attacking the creepy, cheery cheerleader people with her amazing, insane power until they are all undead like her!***

**HOWEVER**

**Trask is standing a few feet away cackling evilly. "You may have defeated my cheerleaders but you still don't own Remy!" He screams before disappearing in a cloud of blue smoke.**

**Psycho drops to her knees and screams "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"**

**(cheery people are of the devil, and even though me and Ol' Lu are tight *indicates with crossed finger, tight sign thing* they deserve to die!) **

**-- Brought to you by an insane person in a drug induced dazed state --**

**Reviews: I LOVE YOU ALL!!! WHOOO!!! *he he***

**Wanda W: **Trask truly sucks but right now I'd prefer him to the way I'm feeling right now….(:( Sorry I'm being a downer…*in an attempt to at least seam human* RIGHT! Thank you for your review and your wishes of health they are greatly appreciated and I hope you enjoy this chapter! *Breathes out sigh of relief, looks at floor then clutches head in pain and mutters 'I'm going to go die in the corner now Ok?' and goes and does just that.*

**LaceyLou76: **Did you know that the Emil story is based on a true story that happened to my dad when he was younger. It always makes me laugh so I knew I had to include it. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Love!

**I-love-red-head-ninjas: **It is definitely one of by top 10 films so you have to watch it, I don't know what the age thingy on it is though…lots of swearing and shiz…My parents don't fall for the puppy dog eyes it is truly infuriating! Blast you and your 14 year old cuteness but I hope you feel better soon, I understand that being ill is the worst!…SMILE for I have updated!

**Alexmonalisa: **he he he he he you make me chuckle, I would laugh but I don't have the energy, thank you for your ever growing loyalty and I hope you enjoy this chappie too!

**InspirationandStrife: **Hooray for modern medicine! Hooray for cosy beds! Hooray for fanfiction! Hooray for your reviews!

**Xxgothicangelxx: **Actually I don't know where I got that from, it just sought of flowed and it meant I could incorporate more characters and add to my weird vibe and progression through the various types of psyches in Rogue's mind. I sound all psychobabble-y O~O LOVE!

**YouDin'tSeeAnything000: **PENGUIN! *ahem* sorry for that outburst…lost control for a minute there…I only just got facebook recently so I get the feeling left out thing…it sucks…hope you continue to read and enjoy….smile and wave boys…smile and wave!

**Maeko14: **Don't worry she's awake now, so less frustration…chillax *mental shudder* (I hate that word I, just had a craving to use it for some odd reason) ….no-one seems to have seen Blade Trinity, Damn! It's soo funny, you ave to watch it when you can! Thanks for the Review!

**And to all the rest that I didn't reply to I LOVE YOU TOO AND THANK YOU SOO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! THEY MAKE ME HAPPY!**

~Ah, to think how thin the veil that lies Between the pain of hell and Paradise.~

~George William Russell, 1867 – 1935, poet~

Birds flew from the trees surrounding the mansion as screams pierced the cool evening air.

"Pietro! Get out of here!" clamoured the voices of the female members of the X-Men team as a blur exited their changing room.

"You know you want me ladies!" he called, once he was a safe distance away. The rest of the Brotherhood attempted to apologise for his behaviour.

"He gets a bit antsy when ever Wanda's away now, he's just scared something might happen to her and has a weird way of showing it, don't worry he'll stop as soon as she gets back with Wolverine." Rushed Lance as he held his arms up and backed away slowly from the advancing mob of mutants, who were all either brandishing hairbrushes or readying their powers to pulverise a certain quick footed blonde.

"I suggest that you keep Pietro in check Lance or Wanda's gonna come home to a dead twin," joked Scott. The lanky teen just grunted and went off to look for Pietro. Although they didn't live in the Xavier household they had been informed of the "incident" and had proceeded to ignore Scott and consequently Jean, because she continued to stand by him.

Scott's forced cheerful expression was immediately dropped. "When are they supposed to be getting back Jean?" The sooner Wolverine and Wanda got back the closer they would be to rescuing Rogue and hopefully everything would return to normal.

"They were supposed to be back an hour ago Scott, I'm really worried, what if something's happened?"

"I'm sure they're fine"

Jean seemed to be placated by his assurances; however Scott was sure she may have mumbled something under her breath about saying that last time. But before he could ask her what she meant the front door of the mansion opened to reveal Wanda. She stormed in and grabbed one of the dining room chairs completely oblivious to the stunned household. All their questions were answered when Wolverine came in almost completely covered in blood and carrying an unconscious man.

"Don't worry, most of it isn't mine" grunted the Canadian as he tossed the man into the chair that Wanda had provided.

"Who's that?" asked Jamie as Wanda's conjured ropes began to tie up the prisoner.

"This is the gentleman that is going to help us find Rogue Squirt" she answered, like every other member of the house she had a soft spot for little Jamie. She even lent down and ruffled his hair causing Pietro to once again freak about her well being.

"AreyouOk?didyougethitinthehead?doIneedtocalladoctor?whydidyoutakesolong?whyaren'tyouansweringme?"

He constantly streamed questions while flitting around her, most of the time just a blur and oblivious to the fact that he was talking so fast and so much that no-one could get a word in edgeways.

"Mr Maximoff, if you would please calm down, our guest should be waking up soon." Pietro soon relaxed once he realised that his twin was Ok and proceeded to stand against the wall with the other mutants attempting to look menacing and failing to do so.

A groan emanated from the captive and he soon came to, his eyes darting around the room in an attempt to find an escape route while he struggled against his bindings.

"Hello Thomas, My name is Professor Xavier and I would like to ask you a few questions regarding your current employment," stated the Professor calmly, as though interrogating hostages was a regular daily pastime for him.

"What? Where am I? How did you know my name?....Wait! You're one of the freaks…You were on TV, you're a thought stealer!" The man increased his struggling; while a look of pure hated and disgusted marred his face.

"The correct term is a telepath, we do not steal your thoughts Thomas, we simply observe them. Now I believe you are currently under the employment of a Mr. Bolivar Trask, is that correct?" Once again he was cool and collected, he did not let the fury that he felt at the mans blatant bigotry become apparent in his voice, for that would only hinder their quest to rescue Rogue.

"I'm not telling you nothing! What the boss is doing is gonna save the world from you scum!" A faint reddish tinge had spread across 'Thomas's' face through his hated and the effort that he had exerted in his futile attempts to escape from the mansion.

Suddenly his head whipped round to the left after being slapped by infuriated Storm, her usual calm persona had been cracked by the thought that Rogue had been left so long in the hands of these lunatics, her control had slipped the point rain was now pouring over the contents of the room.

"What exactly is your position Thomas?" asked the Professor after kindly asking Ororo to leave in order to "collect herself".

Intimidated by the indoor thunderstorm caused by the dignified African woman the captive answered the question, almost immediately.

"I'm a technician, I prepare the subjects and the machines for all the procedures that happen at the facility."

It sounded exactly like what they were looking for. The whole room hushed in anticipation for the next question, the one they had all been waiting for.

The Professor held up a photograph for the prisoner to see.

"We are looking for one of my students Thomas, her name is Rogue, have you ever come across this young woman before?"

This time however he was hesitant to answer. It wasn't until a number of the mutants in the room growled threateningly at him that he finally spat it out with a vindictive glint in his eyes.

"Mutant #10, she's a favourite of the boss', in every week, sometimes twice in one day. He's got big plans for her. I don't see what's so special about her though, you freaks are all the same, Scum, the lot o' you. She's worse though, always talking with that #14. Probably planning to kill us all. Not talking much anymore though is she?"

The whole room seemed to take a breath at once, all silently questioning what the man in the centre of the room meant.

"Thomas, what do you mean?"

He let out a harsh laugh. "Trask had a surgery done on her, something to do with her brain and now she's in a coma, has been for a week, I've got a bet placed that says she's dead by the end of this one."

The room erupted into chaos. Some were rushing to kill the captive for harming their friend; others were preventing them from doing something rash knowing that information was still needed. The rest simply reacted emotionally, tears of hopelessness and frustration where shed, angry rants were expelled and furniture was destroyed in fits of rage. But in the centre of all this pandemonium one man remained still and asked the terrified bigot one final question.

"Where is the facility?"

"Casar, North Carolina" Stuttered the man before falling into a dead faint.

**DUN DUN DUUUUUN!!!**

***Big Grin* soo much is happening! Soo much fun to write! ………..Sooooo Tiiirrreeeedddd!!!!!**

**READ AND REVIEW OR I'LL **

**OR I'LL**

**OR I'LL BLOW MY NOSE AT YOU!!! (monty python reference to all those people whose lives have not been touched by its comedic brilliance)**


	17. Pain

**AN: Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!....Sorry I haven't updated I took a short break and while I was away I had no real wish to do anything really and although that is a terrible excuse I thought that I owed it to you anyway. I get my exam results in ….3 days and well….I'M FREAKING OUT!!!!! But at least I'm feeling better...**

**DISCLAIMER: hello and welcome to the 10 o'clock news, I'm Dick Craven and the head lines today are: The Utah Poison Control Centre reminds everyone not to take poison. An Alton attorney accidentally sues himself and a crazy woman is arrested due to the fact that she believes she owns a Mr. Remy LeBeau AKA Gambit. We the 10 o'clock news team would like to remind the public that he and all of the X-Men characters belong to Marvel. **

**Reviews:**

**Alexmonalisa: **Great idea, we are definitely gonna have to try that! I hope your feeling better but the best thing in the world for any type of achey of bruisey injury is Tiger Balm, just don't put it near your eyes or it make you cry for hours!

**Kii: **Ahh now we wouldn't want you to die (we don't?) no that's just not nice…so I have updated…enjoy.

**Hellion Rogue: **Yeah…I have left a lot of unanswered questions but they will be answer soon, only 10 chapters until the end. Thanks for voting on the pole I really need to start working on the ending so its good that I'm getting some ideas on what to do. Oh and don't worry it wont be a cop out ending like "it was all a dream" it'll be good. Hope you enjoy this chapter. See you soon

**Fairy: **I can't tell you that yet, it'll ruin the story. You're just gonna have to wait and see. LOVE

**Xxgothicangelxx: **Ok…1. Yes I have seen the new Harry Potter, that book always annoyed me though they were all so idiotic. I mean Draco was SOOO obvious, I'll just sit and brood here I'm totally not doing anything evil. And Harry is just generally a twit plus for a big book nothing really happens does it? Sorry about the rant but there are so man things about the last 3 books that piss me off. 2. I LOVE DRAMIONE! Draco is hilarious and I just want to hug him and make him feel better (then again I always like the tortured guy see Remy for example) I'll definitely read that when I get the chance…hmm…I might go do it now as a treat for updating…thanks! Hope you enjoy xxx

**I-love-red-head-ninjas: **yum I haven't had gummy worms in ages! Finally someone recognises my need to be worshiped…I am god…really I am. Twists are always good, I mean there's even a song about them (lets twist again, like we did last summer etc etc) you'll just have to wait and see. *na na na na na*

**Jewel and Koal: **Scott isn't dead because if I killed him then Jean would have to be all whiney and "WHA someone killed my Scotty-poo" it would make me kill my computer so having him still alive is the lesser of two evils. WRITERS BLOCK SUCKS!!!! I have no idea how to cure it…. Wow I actually don't…ahh I feel all blank…NOOOO STAY BACK DEMON OF WRITERS BLOCK! IM TOO YOUNG TO DIE! They have some Evo on YouTube if your TV is still down, I don't think that its all the episodes but it's a lot of them. Insanity is fun so don't worry about it, I've been insane for years and I'm doing great (you are?) shut it you!

**Wanda W: **I thought NC would be an interesting place to have it because it is unexpected. It was going to be on some secret island that nobody knows about but I thought that would be too similar to then one that the used in the original series so it became NC. I haven't decided what will happen to Thomas…hmmm….I may need to work on that. Storm's great, she's a strong lady but she isn't a rock and I'm trying to explore the characters of most of the major X-men so she needed her…say….in the matter. Blade Trinity is sooo funny, not the best acting or storyline in the world but it's got a great script, I love Hannibal King. Everything is easier without headaches, but painkillers are the new love of my life, they're the only reason I survived.

**Cuzimaw3som317: **Calm down, calm down. I would never stop writing a story half way through, if people are dedicated to read the stuff I write then I'd owe it to them to at least finish the story. But don't worry, I'm not planning on quitting any time soon, I devote too much of my time to it and I enjoy it way too much. So… I love that you care so much about the story and hope you continue to read, enjoy and review.

**YouDidn'tSeeAnything000: **Monty Python is the shiz! Sorry I watched Stop the Yard and Save the Last Dance today (I was in a weird dance movie mood) that is soo cool that you have friends that like fanfic too. One of mine does and she write too, bt the rest of my friends think that its sad, I think that they're missing out on a whole new world of literature. But to each they're own. I'd gonna try that Dramione so I'll give you feedback next chapter. LOVE

**THANK YOU SOOO MUCH TO MT OTHER REVIEWERS: Kamiko no Ummei, AnimeFreak218, tab14, LadyMageLuna, nessa671, ChamberlinogMusic, Emumoon, missunderstoodagain, GardenRiver, dragonfly422, maeko14 and tfobmv18 I LOVE YOU ALL!**

~He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.~

~Samuel Johnson, English Author, 1709 – 1784~

Trask sighed as he returned to his office. It had been a rather interesting few days. Firstly Mutant #10 had finally woken up; it had only taken a week, two dead neurologists and a handful of technicians to achieve. His plans could officially move forward soon after the subject a few days to fully recover, wouldn't want to kill her too soon. But it had all been downhill from there.

First one of his other facilities had been broken into and a number of his staff had been injured, one had gone missing all together, a technician by the name of Thomas Slick. Currently there were no leads as to who had taken him or why but he had his suspicions.

The X-Men.

Trask was aware that they had been looking into him in the hopes of finding their abducted team-mate however he was sure they'd have given up by now. It had been over a year.

During their observation of the team and Mutant #10's profiling it had bee assessed that she was a minor member of the team who held no real significance due to her inability to control her powers. Trask had been sure that the other Mutants would have forgotten about her by now, they were nothing more than animals so surely they should thank him for weeding out one of the weak members of the pack.

Although he knew this wasn't true. Mutant #10 was in fact one of the most powerful mutants he had ever encountered. She just wasn't living up to her potential. The surgery allowed her to do that now, at least that's what he was hoping and thus leading onto another of today's disappointments.

His machine, his precious baby had malfunctioned during a test, unnecessarily killing a room full of his staff…oh and a mutant. This was extremely unfortunate seeing as it played a vital roll in his plans for the future. Fortunately he had managed to rectify the problem but it had still been a pointless loss.

Trask removed his suit jacket and placed it neatly on the back of his chair. Just because he was having a bad day doesn't mean that he should mess up the regulation of his office. Everything had its rightful place and it should remain there. Order is imperative.

The screens flickered on as he took his seat filling the room with a dim green glow, making his features look gaunt and haunting.

Six of the cells were empty due to recent "losses" and would be filled soon; in fact the facility that had been raided by the X-freaks had been the one in charge of retrieving new subjects. Mr Slick had been a promising young technician up for promotion. He was probably dead now knowing how savage those beasts could be.

As usual his gaze wandered over to the two screens that held Mutant #10 and Mutant #14 and as usual they were talking. He chuckled and shook his head, that would all end soon. He decided he needed some amusement so instead of listening to Wagner like he usually did after a trying day he informed the staff to patch the live audio feed from the cells directly into his office.

The speaker crackled and a Cajun accent filtered through.

"_Ah've decided on my question for today."_

"_We're still doin' that?" _replied #10 with a hoarse voice due to its lack of use.

"_Oui petite, and mon question is, have you ever been in love?" _was the curious reply..

"_Now why'd you want to know that Swamp Rat?"_ Some of the less experienced female staff who often liked to listen to the conversations of the two mutants because they were 'sweet' could be heard outside shouting at their own live feed: "Because he likes you!". But Trask had fazed them out as anger clouded his senses

"_Well, I said I wanted to know everything and amore is very important in a person's life, so have you ever been in love mon chere?"_

"LOVE!?!" Screamed Trask as turned over his desk causing everything that had been on it to scatter over the floor with an audible crash. "What do those animals know of love? I had love! She was my high school sweetheart, my college girlfriend, my wife! And you freaks took her away from me! You took my one true happiness, my family! You don't have the capacity to love. You are freaks, criminals, killers. You are MONSTERS! Monsters can't love. Monsters need to be destroyed. And I will be the one to do it. I will save us all and when I have eradicated every last one of you from our Earth I will –"

"Mr Trask?" interrupted a very nervous member of his staff. "We heard some noise, we were wondering…" his gaze shifted over the mess that had once been Trask's orderly haven "if you needed anything?"

"No!" Raged Trask, his face visibly red from the exertion of his rant, causing the staff member to nervously start to back out of the room, "actually wait! Ready the machine…I think it's time we put it through its final test."

Relieved that Trask wasn't taking his anger out on him the assistant hastily asked "Which mutant would you like to use sir? I was thinking the one that becomes metal. The results would be quite interesting."

"Quiet!" Trask turned away from the other man and faced the screens. "You are not paid to think. You are paid to do what I tell you to do, and I'm telling you that I want Marie." A smile was creeping onto his boss's face, unnerving the assistant who only a moment ago had watched him overturn a desk in a fit of rage.

"Who sir?"

"Mutant #10 you idiot! I'd also like you to ready #14 in the observation room…I think the time for Phase 4 has finally arrived."

**Uhhh…I am sooo hungry….I decided that I would sit down and write and do nothing else until this chapter was finished so I haven't eaten in hours!!!**

**REVIEW OR I WILL COME AND EAT YOU!!!**


	18. Qualm

**AN: Sorry I've been MIA I got kidnapped by teachers because now I have do go to school and I DON'T WANNA *stomps foot like a five year old* this also means updates will probably take longer so this is a bad thing for you too. Maybe you should start a petition? I mean, I'm close to ruling the world, why do I need A levels? Don't answer that. But really, I don't want to be able to analyse Joeseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness as I need are reviews, a computer, my crazy ideas and a few sedatives to prevent the voices in my head from telling how I really should take over the world. **

**\m/(^.^)\m/**

**DISCLAIMER: Going, Going Gone to the crazy girl at the front.**

**YEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! I OWN THE X-MEN YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!**

**BEEP BEEP BEEPCRASH!**

**Stupid alarm clock, stupid perfect dream, stupid fact that the genius that is X-men belongs to Marvel.**

**Reviews: I love you all, sorry I don't have the time to reply to your wonderfulness but I promise that your reviews are extremely appreciated!**

~Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional~  
~Unknown~

**Remy POV**

The scraping noises indicated that Rogue's cell door was being open. They were back! She had only been awake for a day! How could they do this to her? Hadn't she been through enough already?

A gruff voice filter through the wall "Come on freak, you've got somewhere to be"

"No! She's not strong enough yet! Take me instead!" Remy pleaded banging his fist on his side of the wall. Desperation causing him to ignore the pain exploding from his hands as the hard concrete ripped into his skin in retribution for the abuse.

The voice laughed "Don't worry you're not being left out, the boss has a treat for you too!"

Then his angel spoke "Remy, don't worry, Ah'll be fine, Ah'll se yah soon." He wanted to scream after her that he loved her. He had planned to do it earlier during their conversation about love but he had been too chicken after she replied _"Ah love someone yeah, Ah love them so much ah think my heart will explode, even though ah know ah shouldn't, ah just hope a get to tell them." _He had broken at that point, she was in love, of course she was, she was too amazing not to be. He just hoped the guy loved her too and that he would look after her because if he didn't he'd have to answer to le diable blanc.

And yet there was still a niggle in the back of his brain. A glimmer of hope that whispered: she never said who it was…it could be you.

It could be him.

So his heart left and followed the rattling gurney that is love was being taken away on because, it could be him.

He didn't fight back when the guards came to take him to his own testing because, it could be him.

And he smiled when they presented a syringe to inject him with because, it could be him.

**Rogue POV**

_Chicken._

_I can't believe you didn't tell him, you were so close. He probably thinks you have some boyfriend named Bobby hidden away somewhere back home. Idiot!_

_Well he's a clever t'ief he could have got the hint._

_Great now I'm arguing with myself in my mind. Trask has finally driven me crazy._

They reached their destination after a short while. It was a new room; the door was steel with a round glass window near the top which was a complete contrast to the usual plain white ones. There was also no label on the door. Every other examining room was clearly labelled with a black number but this one stood imposingly with its anonymity.

After the guards had swiped their access cards they entered.

The far wall was lined with monitors which all displayed statistics and graphs. To the right there was a glass window, the same as in the other examining rooms, however the other room was dark and so nothing could be seen within it. But it was the left hand side of the room that held Rogue's attention.

There was one of the usual operating tables set up there complete with the regular restraints. However above it was suspended a huge ominous machine. Electrodes with sensor pads hung from it like eerie tentacles. Never before had she seen a machine like it before.

The guards wheeled her over to the table and began transferring her and strapping her down. Only when she was fully restrained did the scientists and technicians enter the room.

_Cowards._

They began fussing about the room quickly and efficiently, however there was jauntiness in everyone's movements creating an undercurrent of panic in the room, which confused Rogue. However her questions were answered when a certain suit clad man walked into the room.

"Good day Freak, how have you been?"

"Fahne and dandy." She replied sarcastically although her croaky voice ruined the affect slightly.

He laughed, "Good to see you still have a sense of humour Marie. But we have no time for pleasantries today" he turned away from Rogue and signalled to one of the technicians. "You my dear are gong to use your power on this."

A young boy was wheeled in on another gurney, he was obviously sedated however you could still see the flicker of panic behind the oblivious veil that the drugs caused within his gaze.

"There are no power dampeners in this room, so you should be perfectly capable of doing it."

"No! Ah'm not hurting anyone, I could never do that you monster!"

"Ahhh but you must Marie or we'll hurt your little friend. Mr. LeBeau is in the room next door being prepped for a little test of his own. However if you don't comply with my request I promise you that his will be much more….fatal than yours."

"How do Ah know yah not lying?"

A menacing smile crept across the monstrous man's lips "You don't, but can you really take that chance?"

No matter what Rouge thought she realised that Trask was right, she couldn't risk Remy's life, she'd do whatever it took to save him, and if it meant hurting this boy, then so be it. She only hoped that her family, and especially Remy, wouldn't think to badly of her if they ever found out.

"Fahne," she sighed "Ah'll do it"

Trask chuckled, and she realised that he knew she would agree all along. Remy was probably still back in his cell. She'd been played, but she still couldn't back out because he would definitely carry out his threat, even if he wasn't intending to do it now.

Technicians had begun to flutter around her attaching sticky sensor pads to her head. They even hooked her up to an IV, something they had never do to her while conscious, they definitely wanted to keep her around.

"What's all this for anyway?" she asked.

"No, no, no, no, no, Marie, I'm not about to give away my plan just yet. Now I want you to put your hand on the boy…Trevor loosen her restraint!"

The technician gave a worried glance at Trask but still followed his orders. He understood not to go against a crazy man. However he backed away as quickly as possible from Rogue once he had, it was almost as though e expected her to kill him with one hand. Granted she could do that, but she was still tied to a table in a room full of hostiles, it wouldn't help her at all to kill one insignificant little lackey.

"Now Marie, put your hand on the boy!"

"Ah, ah, ah don't want to hurt him!" she cried, the drugs were starting to wear off and the boy was rousing.

Something in Trask's eyes seemed to snap as though some small truth or believe had been ripped from him and all that was left was a burning anger.

"YOU WILL DO AS I SAY OR I WILL KILL MUTANT #14 AND MAKE YOU WATCH AS I DO IT AND I PROMISE YOU IT WILL BE ANYTHING BUT QUICK AND PAINLESS!!!" he roared.

_Do it for Remy._

_Do it for his life._

_Do it for your love._

He mind whispered all the reasons why she should hurt the poor defenceless boy that was lying next to her and so she did.

She placed her hand in the boy's, an almost comforting gesture if it had not been ruined by the sinister undertones.

And nothing happened, nothing at all.

There was no pull, no feeling as though her skin was sucking electricity out of a straw and into her body, just the softness of the boy's skin as they held hands in that clinical room full of fanatics.

A few started to clap, one even went to pat Trask on the back, but was deterred by the glare that he was given.

"Gentlemen shush"

A cough was heard from the back of the room and Trask rolled his eyes.

"And women," he added exasperatedly "We are not finished yet, now Marie you are going to absorb that boy's power, you will not kill him, it shall be just enough so that you gain his power."

"Ah don't know how now that ya'll 'ave messed around in mah head asshole!" The relief that she now had control of her gift was immediately replaced with anger as reality one again set back in.

"Well its simple, just think about absorbing it, remember how it used to feel and recreate it and one you feel you have enough stop, it's not that hard to figure out." He spoke as though he was speaking to a child.

She was without options now, completely backed into a corner and unable to fight back. So she did the one thing she could. She whispered a small apology to the boy and to her surprise she saw understanding, acceptance and trust in his eyes. She even liked to think there was a small smile on his face but she couldn't be sure. She then closed her eyes and felt the familiar electricity flow through her veins, but instead of being painful as it usually was it was comforting, a piece of home, and completely under her control.

She could feel the shifts, the different frequencies between the boy's gift and his life force. She knew exactly when to stop, as tough she had been doing it her whole life. She finally had the one thing she had sought after for so long and she would give it all up just to be with Remy and her family with every one safe and sound.

She opened her eyes again and the flow ceased. It would be even easier with time but right now she was happy that she hadn't killed the boy. A smile etched itself on her face and the little face next to her showed an identical emotion.

"I knew you could do it Rogue," the boy called after her as they were wheeled away to their cells "Don't worry, it'll all work itself out in the end."

Hope swelled somehow she knew she had to believe him but of course there was still that small sense of foreboding lurking in the alcoves of her mind.

**I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!**

**REVIEW OR I WILL MAKE YOU DO MY IMPOSSIBLE LATIN HOMEWORK!!!**

**xxx**


	19. Racking

**AN: School sucks! They're making us go on a walking weekend that we have to organise ourselves and well…lets just say the people in my group are definitely the type of people I'd like to get rid of once I come into power! That and the mountains of work I have to do are making me want to hide in my bed, under the covers for a week and just crying (pouring all those emotions into my fanfics as well of course). I feel so…frazzled and the only way I'm writing this is because I have a free period and while I should be preparing for a presentation I have to make in front of my whole class I've decided I need an emotional outlet. Lucky for you this happens to be it, after listening to Flyleaf on loud and screaming into a pillow of course. (no I don't randomly take pillows to school I go to a boarding school, I'm not that weird….)**

**I hope you're all enjoying yourselves!**

**XxX**

**DISCLAIMER: If I owned Remy I would be on a beach with him somewhere doing many enjoyable, relaxing things not drowning in Simultaneous Equations and Indirect Statements so no I don't own him or any of the other X-men. I only own the little random made-up people and the voices in my head. All the good characters belong to Marvel. **

**Reviews: **

**GardenRiver: **All your questions will be answered within! Please start that petition, I think I'm on the verge of a full on mental breakdown. I hope you like this chapter as well. It's been FUN (please note the sarcasm)

**AnimeFreak218: **I plead insanity, there really is no other reason I can think of…I hope this update came quick enough for you. Enjoy

**Delu: **hahaha I wish I was ignorant when it came to latin but we can't always get what we want (one of the great philosophical insights of the Rolling Stones :) Hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Fairy: **sorry I couldn't be bothered to write your whole name. Hmmm… The little boy, he's part of one of my alternate ways of ending it so I can't really tell you everything but he may be important. Depends what flows. Trask is a wanker its just inherent now I feel kind of sorry for him now….well not really….he freaks me out.

**InspirationandStrife: **Yeah that would be kind of odd, but seeing as they're sadistic bastards they'll probably do everything to stop him from smiling *hint hint* I like the human moments to, it makes the bad moments feel not so bad because they are people after all. Don't judge me cause I'm clever *HAHAHAHA* no really I plead insanity, I'm hoping I can switch.

**DevilishBea-Anime-Couple-Lover****: **Sarcasm is loved, in fact it is a whole language in my world and I speak it fluently, of course. WOW someone sounds exited but as you can see, I have returned so please R&R

**Jewel and Koal: **I am extremely proud and honour that you care enough to follow my little (amazing) fic. I thank you profusely. I have a theory that teachers enjoy taking away our free time, just to make us squirm, they must take pleasure in it. Why else would I have to work for 2 presentations, a test, a final art piece and a translation all for tomorrow!?! AAHHHH! Sorry I needed to let out the frustration. But I can't wait for your fic, it'll give me something to look forward to seeing as I'm already counting down the days till the holiday.

**Maya-chan2007****: **oooh! Good idea, I like it! Definitely going in the "What to do when I take over the world" notebook. I must try this coma food, sounds interesting, I'll ask for it at the supermarket the next time I'm there XD

**Alexmonalisa: **could I really, I may have to take you up on that offer *jokes* I think Trask is crying now though at his lack of cookies, really it's mean to tease a mentally unstable evil person, you never know what they could do! I think I rock your metaphorical socks they're so much cooler than real ones, they're yellow and green stripy knee-high ones. Latin is the bane of my existence, I'm glad I don't have to do Ancient Greek anymore though, god I need better subjects!

**YouDidn'tSeeAnything000: **I laugh at your enthusiasm, but I can't promise anything, it depends on my poll and well whatever sounds better. Just hope and pray that I can write the happy stuff better than the sad stuff however considering the story so far is pretty depressing…

**Xxgothicangelxx: **Hey! I'm not that bad at updating!!! I seem to remember one time when I updated twice in one day! Ew ew ew! needles!!! But at least it's not as bad as Trask's needles huh? I'm not getting one of those things, I think I'm too old or something…not sure really….enjoy this chapter!!!

**KATIE: **wow you're kinda scary, but I like it, you remind me of my psycho hyper friend. I'm really glad that you're enjoying the story please continue to read and review I love all my newcomers.

**Lelli-Lo****: **I'm really happy that you think I've done the characters justice

**Libra101: **you really don't, it's insanely hard and you hardly ever get to use it but I have to say the best bit is when someone asks you what you're studying and as soon as you say Latin this bug eyed shocked look comes on their face. It's the mosr hilarious thing you'll ever see.

**Kii: **If you refuse to down to me then you must be "removed", I understand my history, if you oppose those who lead then you must disappear. Remember, it is my twisted mind that has given you the evil that is Trask, imagine what I could think of if I really put my mind to it….MWAHAHAHAHAHA! XD

**Tfobmv18, Fostersb, LadyMageLuna, cuzimaw3som317, ****Klara, Dragon **Thank you for your reviews as well, I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

~Nothing begins, and nothing ends, That is not paid with moan; For we are born in others' pain, And perish in our own.~

~Francis Thompson, 1859 – 1907, English Poet~

**Remy POV**

Haze filled his sense, an impenetrable fog cutting him off from the outside world. It was as though he was drowning just a floating detachment from all that was the physical realm.

_What was that? _

All he could recall was being strapped to an operating table as usual but all after that was a deep blackness until now. The last thing he could remember thinking was.

_It could be me._

A voce drifted through his consciousness and he could see a man with his back to the table, he was wearing a white lab coat however it was the man in the suit next to him that was speaking. The voices were muted and his vision blurry, as though there was a veil cutting him off from the rest of the world.

"Mr Mínion, may I inquire as to why you have not begun the test yet?"

"Mr Trask," the scientist stuttered "I need to remind you that this form of research is not exact and with all of the preliminary experiments you were always used as the director. Therefore we have reason to believe that this test would be a complete failure if anyone but yourself issued the commands" The man had attempted to stand firm but the end of his speech came out as though he was asking a question.

"Fine…" The scientist walked away to stand behind the observation screen and all that was let in the room was Trask and himself. "Monsieur LeBeau"

With those two words his whole being suddenly had become hyperaware of that one voice, which terrified him beyond belief.

He tried to fight it, to think of anything and every thing but the flat, cold voice that belonged to Bolivar Trask but he was entirely detached from himself. He screamed and swore and yet he could do nothing but watch and listen.

"I'm sure by now you have realised that I am Bolivar Trask, Marie has probably spoken about me at some pint or another."

MOVE DAMNNIT! HE said Rogue's name, she is mon chere, he deserves to die, he's the one who's been hurting her! Why can't you just MOVE!?!

"Now I believe you're quite panicked in there aren't you Rembrandt. In fact I know you are, your subconscious brain waves are off the chart. You must be fighting with everything you've got. Hmm…It's a completely futile effort you know. I mean really…right now I control everything you do" he chuckled but it was dead sound, there was absolutely no humour in it, just a clinical truth. "Let me demonstrate."

He too walked behind the observation screen but instead of checking charts and typing results onto computer screens he flicked a switch and spoke into a small microphone, his voice reverberated throughout the whole room.

"Mutant #14 walk forward five paces!" He commanded in complete confidence that it would be followed through with. But what was the most petrifying thing was that it was carried out.

Remy felt his body move forward those five paces and his mind screamed to a hault.

"Now blow up that cinder block in front of you" he ordered and once again Remy carried out the order. He was so shocked about what was happening he didn't even stop to wonder about how peculiar it was that he could use his powers.

_Fils de pute, Sacre bleu, Vous tes malades! baise toi!_

_Come on! How are you letting him do this!?! FIGHT! Fight for Rogue! You love her, and by giving in to this man means you're giving her up! You swore! You swore that you would never let anything happen to your loved ones ever again! You swore and once again you're going to fail. _

"Mr Mínion, please administer the antidote and have Monsieur LeBeau returned to his cell. I think we are finally ready."

Another needle was stuck into his arm and due to his new automaton state there was no acknowledgement to the pain it caused at all.

He was lifted and strapped onto the gurney as he slowly resurfaced, once again gaining control of his body while he was wheeled away down the endless corridors starring at the white tiled ceiling and burning florescent strip lights. There was a rattling as they passed another gurney going the other way.

"Don't worry, it'll all work itself out in the end." Called a young, unfamiliar voice from the gurney, but Remy had no reason to believe him.

Once they were at his cell the door slammed and he was alone again.

"Rogue?" he called out hesitantly, his voice cracking at the end. For the first time he was relieved when there was no answer and so he let everything he was feeling out in one shattering scream.

Tears racked his body as utter despair soaked into his heart, and he let it come, his body and soul was in complete surrender to this final onslaught of hopelessness. He had finally lost this perpetual battle for control and survival and there was nothing with which he could fight back. They had not only stolen his physical freedom but now his own sense of self. He had completely yielded to them and yet was utterly unaware of the fact that he had. Panic screeched through his mind. They could completely dictate his ever action. They could orchestrate monstrous things in his name against those that he loved; his family, his friends, his angel.

So he lent his back against the wall, his only gateway to his love, and sank to his knees to salt water streaming down his face and disjointed cries forcing their way out of his mouth. It could have been him whom she loved, but a being as perfect as the one that he loved would never love a man who could not even control himself. She could never love him but he would continue to love her. For all eternity, his spirit would carry on loving her, in all the future forms that his spirit took, in all dimensions and worlds he would love Rogue and maybe one day they could be together but this could never be the time. Not after he had finally lost himself, a broken wretch in a miserable world.

**REVIEW OR I WILL HIT YOU OVER THE HEAD WITH MY SEVEN HISTORY TEXT BOOKS (I know! I don't get why I need seven either)**


	20. Sickening

**AN: ahhh….what to say, what to say, how are you all? I'm in a weird mood, I'm tired from all my work mood but I can't sleep so I decided to write. I really hope you like this chapter because it's all starting to finally unravel but I really don't want it too. I'm having to much fun writing this. *pout* But I will enjoy it while it lasts, there's still a bit to go. Enjoy yourselves and remember Cajun love for always.**

**DISCLAIMER: It's 1:15am so I'm sorry my sense of humour is sleeping (like I should be) therefore: NO I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE PUBLICALLY RECOGNISABLE CHARACTERS THEY ALL BELONG TO THE GENIUS THAT IS MARVEL! XD**

**Reviews: I love you all and will continue to do so for ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and you get the picture. I don't have time to reply to you all but please keep reviewing I will definitely get to you next time!**

~I have said to you to speak the truth is a painful thing. To be forced to tell lies is much worse.~

~Oscar Wilde, Irish writer, 1854 – 1900~

Trask smiled as he sat down in his reorganised office. Finally his plan was nearing completion. It had been so long, too long, and to think that it all centred on two mutants. The fact that they had become "friendly" with each other was just that icing on the cake. The fates truly loved him for everything was happening better than he could have ever hoped for.

The deranged man logged into his computer as he contemplated everything that had happened in his lifetime. All that had occurred had obviously been to prepare him for what he was meant to do:

1. To achieve power, in order to better mankind

2. The annihilation of all of mutantkind.

This was all that he cared about now and soon he would have both. There was no way it could fail. It had structure, order and was obviously the only true and natural course as the freaks were rodents, and what do you do to pests like rodents? You exterminate them.

After opening the security pass-worded folder on his separate laptop that was not connected to any system or internet (you can never be too careful, you don't know who could be trying to hack into your files) Trask selected the Word Document labelled: MPA preparation. This was the general outline of his plan.

He liked to reread it after frustrating days to remind himself that all the hardship that he was enduring was in fact for a reason. But today it was just for shits and giggles. (**A.N. Sorry for interrupting but for those that don't know cause I'm not sure if American's or others use that phrase it basically means: For a laugh, back to the story now)**

It was written as though it was a historical document and had been added to as discoveries and observations were made. In fact it was more of an account of events and his reasonings behind them. This was due to the fact that he was planning to have it published as part of the memoirs he was writing so that future generations could understand the full extent his genius.

The document began as such:

"_After witnessing the horrific capabilities and freakish natures of this so called off shoot of evolution I, Bolivar Trask, have decided that it is up to me to save mankind. The current governmental power does not recognise the threat that these mutants could pose to our country and I have reason to believe that they could be being influenced by the evil "superior race". _

Trask chuckled at his own sarcasm as he went to press play on his iHome. Ass the majestic compositions of Wagner filled the room he continued to read. The plan itself lost the dignity of its introduction and he planned to re-write it later but for now it served its purpose in its clinical precision.

"_After the incident between the Mutant named "Juggernaut" and the "X-Men" another mutant was captured and detained claiming its name was "Mesmero". After the request to the President for a laboratory to develop "inventions to better the internal security of the country and to prevent uprisings of any form" was granted "Mesmero" was renamed Mutant #1. _

_The laboratory is to become a facility to understand the threat that these mutants truly pose."_

The original plan had been simple. Just experimentation in order to understand mutants maybe to neutralise them but then "the incident" occurred and the plan was altered.

"_Due to the sacrifice of my family to these abominations I plan to return our world to its rightful owners. Us._

_Through much experimentation we have developed a chemical from the X gene of Mutant #1 we have named it:Imperium. We discovered that it has extraordinary capabilities that allow me to control the subject that it has been injected into. See Experiment nos. 1-42 incl. Mutant #14. _

_Fascinated by these results more mutants were detained so that we could understand their mutations. They have also allowed us to gather information on other mutants that are abusing our liberal country. I am particularly interested by a Rembrandt Etienne LeBeau, a member of the Thief's Guild in New Orleans and a Marie Darkholme a.k.a. Rogue a member of the X-men and part of the original group that were "revealed". See Mutant #14 and #10"_

It had seemed so long ago Trask mused as he drank his 1787 Chateau Lafite and of course much had happened since then. Such as his major discoveries like: Sano another X gene development, therefore providing the ability to heal any injury. Another of note was Morsus which could in the future be used as a torture device however he himself was still partialed to using it as an "endurance" test for his subjects.

"_After acquiring Mutants #14 and #10 and completing their tests I have finalised my plan. _

_I shall use the Imperium on Mutant #14 and force it to blow up the White House therefore accomplishing two aims:_

_I will be put in charge to ensure that the country doesn't collapse. See Power Plan for arrangement on how I plan to keep my power._

_The public will finally see that mutants are evil and need to be eliminated which will stabilise my claim to power and make it easier for future sections of the plan to be carried out._

_Mutant #10 will then have its powers copied by The Machine which will then magnify it on a large scale, wiping out all the currant mutants in the world.*_

_*Please not that due to Mutant #10's surgery (See Alterations 1) Imperium in ineffective. Therefore due to Mutant #14's close relations with it use #14 as leverage."_

On paper he plan seemed so simple and now that The Machine had #10's readings and was in the process of coping and processing plus #14's positive test with Imperium today soon it will be complete. However there had been complications. Such as #10's surgery and the interference of the Thief's Guild and the X-Men.

The Guild had been easy to distract, Trask had simply restarted the war between them and the Assassins by giving the Assassins some exiting new technology gained from his recent experiments on certain mutants. This kept the Thieves busy, not quite as busy as he had hoped. There had been some infiltration by them at a few of his more important offices but they had done nothing of real consequences as the Assassins were holding up their end of the deal and keeping them on their toes.

The X-Men were more troublesome however but they had lessened their attacks and raiding. Maybe they were finally giving up?

Also there was still a long way to go if he wanted to eliminate mutants completely. And so while The Machine was processing all of #10's data Trask would be writing his Mutant Prevention Act.

"_Sentinels will constantly patrol our beloved country due to their highly reliable robotics system and extremely comforting success rate. Their position will be to capture and detain any mutants that attempt to rebel against the new laws. _

_Their will be power scanners installed in every building, including homes to ensure the safety of our public from the threat of terrorist mutants who would wish to do us harms due to their barbaric and animalistic tendencies. _

_And finally at birth every newborn will be fitted with a power suppressor chip underneath the skin at the base of their skull therefore wiping out any future generations of mutants."_

Trask leant back in his chair and created a steeple with his fingers. It would all be over soon, oh goody.

**REVIEW OR ELSE! (don't you just love the sense of foreboding those two words bring, I wonder what my or else will be…I promise it will be bad so REVIEW so you don't have to find out, MWAHAHAHAHA!)**


	21. Tenderness

**AN: Short but vitally important, you're gonna love it, I hope. I'm having a slightly Twilight Zone moment cause I swear it was longer when I wrote it out in my notebook but when I typed it up it suddenly became less than 1,000 words. The gremlins are tormenting me again I think. On a slightly more serious note, I love all of you but PMs to my account to attempt to make fun of me because I am from the UK are not appreciated, I spend a lot of my time on my fic's so that you enjoy yourselves therefore comments such as that are just not needed. I understand everyone has their own opinions but at least you could have left it as a review and not been a coward by sending it privately. I may be taking it too seriously, and you may have sent it as a joke but to joke about someone's race is not something that I welcome. I will not name you publicly but you know who you are and if you continue to insult where I was born, a country which I am very proud of by the way, I will have to block you and that is not something that I wish to do. AHH! Right bitch mode has officially gone! *Breathes sigh of relief and replaces frown with normal manic grin* ROMY is BACK! It's angsty and fluffy and I like it so please enjoy and REVIEW!**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**I have to write these to stop me from getting sued**

**I don't own the characters but I only improved**

**Their circumstances and love**

**And added Trask but he can shove**

**Off cause ROMY 4ever is the way it should be**

**As says, well you and me!**

**(my horrific attempts at poetry there, I think I'll just stick to prose)**

**Reviews: I feel so bad now that I keep running out of time for my lovely reviewers, but I though you'd prefer a quicker update than one that took longer but with replies. I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU and I will continue to do so until well….probably after I finish this fic and forget all about you…jokes! I do love you all and it qives me a great lovelly fuzzy feeling after I see that you have left a review so than you for that. They really make my day and I can't wait to see more.**

~The basic fact is that all sentient beings, particularly human beings want happiness and do not want pain and suffering.~

~The Dalai Lama, need I say more~

**Remy POV**

"Something happened,"

Rogue's voice suddenly floated through the concrete and into Remy's cell, she had been returned a while ago but had stayed silent and Remy had been afraid that somehow she knew of his failure. However now his heart stuttered, they couldn't have done the same thing to her could they? He prayed that they hadn't, no-one deserved to feel that vulnerable, that disconnected, that alone. It would crush her, remind her of all those times back at her home when she couldn't truly connect with the people she loved but this time it would be a hundred times worse.

"I think, I think the surgery did something to my powers" she continued

"Quoi?" He listened intently, he had been dreaming of when he finally met her and he hoped that this would help them be together in some way. He didn't care if they couldn't touch, the hell that they had been though for the past "eon" was proof enough of that. He loved he for her soul. But he truly wished that he could touch her, could show her that life wasn't only about pain and betrayal. That she could be loved an dbe happy. He wanted to be that person for eternity in every afterlife and reincarnation, souls joined until the end, but of course he doubted this would ever happen. But he could hope.

"Ah can touch" she whispered with such reverence Remy felt as though she was still coming to grips with the idea.

"Ah've got control Remy, Ah nevah thought this could happen n' it finally has. In this hell hole. Why here Remy? Why ahfta all the tests n' training back at home, why I it the first time in so long Ah can touch and it is so ah can be hurt? Why Remy?" So much hurt and confusion tainted her words yet there was still excitement and hope hidden just beneath the surface, the dream had finally come true so why can't the rest?

"Jen e c'est pas, mon chere, but I am so 'appy for you. Ah only wish Ah could be t'ere to share it wit' you"

"Meh too Remy," echoing a similar statement made not to long ago between the Southern lovers.

She had to know thought Remy. He had to tell her that he had finally lost, he had to warn her of the worm that he was. She had to know.

"Chere?" His voice was quiet and questioning, he almost whished that she wouldn't hear him.

"Yeah Remy,"

"Je suis desole" His voice was defeated and flat, the French rolling of his touge like a dead weight and not the usual smooth silk that it was.

"Why Remy?"

"Ah…Ah…Ah couldn't do anyt'ing to stop it…Ah…Ah…Ah just couldn't stop t'em. Ah tried so 'ard, so 'ard, but not'ing…not'ing, MERDE! 'e did somet'ing…gave me somet'ing…made me do w'at 'e said and now…now…Ah don't wanna 'urt you chere! Ah couldn't do it…Ah couldn't live with myself if Ah ever 'urt you, you're mon ange, the only reason Ah survive, my light, ma cherie, je t'adore…Ah know you'll probably never speak ta me again, Ah'm a coward, a lowly piece of scum t'rown from the deapt's of 'ell, but Ah 'ad to tell you…before…before something 'appened."

Silence met his ears and he prayed, not for the first time, however never with as much passion and desperation as he did now. He prayed to whatever deity would listen, promising that he would give anything, even, no especially his own life if Rogue would continue to be his friend. He did not even dare to hope that she could love a creature as deplorable as he was.

**Rouge POV**

"Je t'adore" the words were on repeat in her mind. A constant Cajun whispering of her hearts desires, continuous and never ceasing. All the while she was froze, her had pressed up against the surface of the concrete wall that separated her from her love.

"Remy?" Her voice came out cracked and whispered

_Je t'adore_

"Remy?" She repeated, stronger than before

_Je t'adore_

"Remy, yah are nevah ta speak about yahself lahke that! Evah! What did Ah tell yah before!?!"

_Je t'adore_

She paused, she was about to break her final wall, finally trust someone with herself completely. Heart and soul. The isolated, angry untouchable Goth girl was about to admit her feelings to the cocky, womanizing, untrustworthy Cajun t'ief.

_Je t'adore_

"Remy…Ah love yah too…so much, and Ah could nevah blame yah for anything that monster of a man did. Ah love yah, which is all that matters. Ah will always love yah, there is nothing anyone can do about it…so…just…just tell meh yah ment what yah just said."

_Je t'adore_

"Mon Coeur s'ouvre à ta voix, you 'ave stolen my 'eart, always, of course Ah meant it, w'en 'as Remy ever said anyt'ing to you t'at 'e didn't mean, je t'adore mon ange"

_Je t'adore_

"Good, cause Yah'd be in a world o' hurt if yah didn't Swap Rat" she choked out, tears of happiness streaming down her face despite the valiant fight that Rogue had to hold them in.

"Cherie, don't cry, t'is be a 'appy occasion"

"Ah love yah Swamp Rat"

"Ah love you too Cherie"

And the world shook. Lights flickered and the walls started to crumble. Something hard and rough scraped a burning path down Rogue's left arm causing blood to start oozing out of the fresh wound. She scrambled away from the walls, attempting to get to the middle of the room away from the collapsing walls. Coughing from the dust that was rising all aroung her, making the air gritty and painful to breath, the electricity finally gave out and her cell was plunged into darkness.

_Je t'adore._

**AN: I thought I'd go Old School and just have a simple R&R at the end of this chapter, I'm in a nostalgic mood so please honour the cosmic fate and Review.**

**It is 11:50pm here so I will leave you with the eternal words of two of my heroes.**

**Pinky: What are we gonna do tonight Brain?**

**Brain: Same thing we do every night Pinky, TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!**


	22. Unbearable

**AN: Writers Block…….ah….ahh….ahhh….AHHHH! SO sorry it's taken so long to update but my mind is against me. Insanity I can handle, hell I can deal with my homicidal tendencies just fine too and manage to not kill those who piss me off but writers block, writers block is my kryptonite…it just gets bigger and bigger until I either have a breakdown or *poof* it just disappears. So far it hasn't disappeared yet. Usually my work is a labour of love but this chapter was just a labour all the way through. Hell I got stuck after the first bleedin' sentence. But I have finished it; hopefully it'll be smooth sailings after this. It has killed me to delay my updating by sooo long but I really stressed on this chapter and I hope that you understand. Please Enjoy and Review, they mean the world to me.**

**DISCLAIMER: **

**Reviews:**

North Carolina, not exactly the most obvious place to have an evil facility used to experiment on unsuspecting mutants, but that was probably exactly what Trask had been going for supposed the senior X-men. As soon as the location had been divulged by Thomas, who was now in a dead faint on the floor, Professor X had managed to gain control of the situation and now the team was preparing to leave.

Physically and mentally they were ready, they'd been preparing for this ever since Rogue had been taken. They had launched similar attacks on other facilities before but now, now they would finally get her back. But what condition would she be in?

***

"Right lets go over the plan one more time" Scott ordered as the team that had been selected for the mission piled into the X-Jet.

"We know the plan boy, we've been over it more times than necessary, now I know that I haven't been on this team for as long as most of the people here but I think I speak for everyone when I say, Shut the Fuck up and lets go already."

Scott looked at Warren shocked, the winged man had always been quite and had often shown his dislike for swearing so to hear an expletive from him was an obvious show of his desire to rescue Rogue. So he quietened down as Logan began the take off procedure.

The 8 hour journey stretched out before them, taunting as Rogue was so close to coming home and yet so far. All were trying to distract themselves from the anxious feelings that had curled up in their stomachs like snakes, eating away at their hope and assurances that their friend was alright.

The team was larger than usual, a mixture of the past and present, Brotherhood and X-Men. All was silent.

***

4 hours to go. Washington was just below them.

Wanda sat with her head leaning against the wall of the jet, her iPod turn up all the way in an attempt to drown out the thoughts that were screaming through her mind.

_And my friends cause they're so beautiful  
Yeah my friends they are so beautiful  
They're my friends_

"Turn it down" a frustrated Jean begged from the seat beside her. She herself was trying to meditate in order to stay calm.

"No." Was the only reply from the Scarlet Witch

"Please!"

"Look, I really don't give a shit about you and your meditating crap, I'm hear to get my friend back, someone that you never really cared about in the first place, so stop whining"

It was one sentence but with the tensions already running high Jean snapped and lunged at the gothic girl. It took a good while to pry the two girls off each other.

"I know not every one in here is the best of friends, I don't expect you to hold each others hands and skip off into the sunset together after this, but please remember why we are here. This could be a life or death situation and your too busy having a cat fight, so shut up, sit down, and go over your tasks because if we don't get my daughter back today I am holding both of you personally responsible, and trust me, I'll make the horrors she's been through seem like heaven compared to what I'll put you through." Growled Logan before he went back to flying the jet that was currently working on auto-pilot, overlooking the slip he had made about Rogue being his daughter.

Only 3 and a half more hours to go.

***

30 minutes to go.

After the fight between Wanda and Jean no one had said a word, no one had wanted to.

All were mentally going through what they were meant to do, a constant stream of formations and signals that they were to look out for.

"Right Team 1 get ready, you'll be the first to disembark get into position quick and quietly, we need all the surveillance equipment out way before Team 2 get there. Then you can look for the information as to were Rogue is." Logan ordered from the cockpit of the jet.

"Team 2 you're out 5 minutes after Team 1 get into position, remember you are only to secure the building, do not go off looking for Rogue, we want as little casualties as possible here so we can't have you running around the building randomly and getting ambushed along the way. Team 3 once you have the all clear signal and the info from Team 1 you are to start freeing the captives, Rogue is the main prize, I know this goes against all our ethics but she is to get out at all costs to the other captives." Finished the Canadian, although every one knew the plan it calmed them all to have him repeat it, reminding them of all the similar drills in the Danger Room. Everything was going to be fine.

***

**Team One POV **

Once Kitty had the location it was fairly easy to find a plan of the building. The Government needed to update its computer security when it came to budget reports. Apparently they needed a full plan of the building to approve the amount of money that would be spent building it. All she had to do was completely avoid all of Trask's files and hack into their system. She and the whole team had fully memorised the floor plan and knew their positions.

Team one had to get to the security centre in the middle of the complex. It wouldn't be too hard all they needed to do was make sure that they didn't enter any of the Power Dead Zones and avoid all the personnel in the complex. Therefore their team comprised of solely stealth team members.

Shadowcat: obvious as she could go through the walls, she was also needed to hack into the computer system to find Rogues information.

Nightcrawler: teleportation powers would mean that the rest of the group could stay further away and not get caught by the cameras until Team 1 had taken them out.

Quicksilver: speed and therefore hopefully stealth although his hyper active tendencies made him a slight loose cannon

Pixie: New recruit who had shown great promise and had excelled during other mission to rescue Rogue. She had Flight, hallucinatory dust, magical soul knife, and limited magic abilities, including teleportation and so was seen to be an asset when it came to stealthing.

So far the plan was going fine. Nightcrawler and Pixie had teleported them into the CCTV's blind spot that Logan had noticed on the plans They were now working their way through the mazelike facility. Along the way they caught sight of things that would later star in nightmares.

The Security Centre was only 5 meters away when they heard the rattling of wheels coming down the corridor. Men pushing a gurney with a small boy strapped to it came around the corner before anyone had a chance to react.

Luckily Pixie reacted quickly and managed to use her power to make them believe that there was no-one there, just blank wall space. But the boy on the gurney was still staring at them, he could see them.

"You're friend lives, but hard times are ahead, do not come between the monarchs of the hearts or the queen may lose her life, they are to stay together." He croaked out staring straight at the X-Men who didn't understand half of what he said.

They continued on, careful to be silent, for although they were invisible to the guards, it would look odd if they could here footsteps while there was nothing there.

Snippets of the guards conversation drifted towards them as the gap increased between them "Crazy freaks, did you hear what it said to that vampire one"

"Yeah! _Don't worry, it'll all work itself out in the end."_ Mocked the second one.

"Now it's talking to walls, poor thing, it's only an animal, its brains probably under developed"

Their cruel laughter was then swallowed up by the threatening silence that hung over the facility as the guards rounded the corner at the other end or the corridor.

"Ican'twait'tillweblowthisplaceskyhigh" Pietro whispered his agitation clear in his voice. Not only were those guards bigots and had probably just taken part in the torturing of a 10 year old boy but he had been forced to walk at NORMAL SPEED! So that he didn't trip any alarms. Just cause he did it that one time…

"Pietro sshh! that's the door there get ready" So they all linked hands while Kitty phased them through. As soon as they were in Pietro knocked out the two guards that were sitting in there as fast as he could while Kitty started hacking the system.

The rest of the team set to ransacking the cabinets full of files in the hopes of finding any information as to where they were keeping Rogue.

"Security systems are offline" Kitty called from the computer

"_Guten _(Good), 30 seconds 'till _Gruppe _(team) 2 go"

There was no breakthrough however on finding Rogue's cell. All the information that was in the room was logistics and security based and the only thing to be found on the computers was a list of numbers.

"Shit! I can't find anything" Kitty was almost in tears. They were so close to finding her but if they didn't get the info within the plan's timeline the whole X-Men team would be pulled out; they couldn't risk anyone else getting caught.

**Team 2 POV **

"Right 5 minutes gone, Team 2 go!"

This time the Team could run right up to the gates of the facility, seeing as all the cameras had been wiped out. Of course they weren't going to go in all guns blazing, their plan still hinged on the element of surprise, only this time it would be easier to get in without alerting everyone inside the complex.

They had been split off into 4 pairs and as the complex was almost a quadrilateral shape each pair had a side they had to secure before they sent to all clear signal. Unfortunately the pairs were based on strengths and not whether they liked each other.

Jean and Wanda were the first pair. They secured the East side quickly and easily, although their team work was all but none existent.

"Tell Logan that the East side's secure" Jean ordered, thinking that because she was the X-Men member or the pair she was automatically in charge.

"Do it yourself, I'm not your bitch" Wanda replied immediately.

Jean just sighed frustrated, there was no point wasting her energy they were there to save Rogue and once they got her back she would never have to talk to the Scarlet Witch again.

*Logan East side's secure*

*Copy that* crackled the com-link. _God I can't wait till everything's back to normal._

***

The second pair was Scott and Lance, definitely not the best people to put together but Avalanche wanted to keep an eye on the Cyclops.

They were to be securing the West side of the building and it seemed to be crawling with guards. The fighting was mostly restricted to hand-to-hand combat but as soon as Lance destroyed the power dampener the real fight began.

More guards filed into the already crowded corridor making movement difficult, especially when the two mutants were trying to defend themselves.

One guards elbow flew into the side of Scott's head dazing him slightly and knocking his visor loose. Seeing that they were beginning to become overwhelmed by the number of hostiles there were Lance resorted to using his powers.

"Screw this," he muttered while causing the ground to shake and the floor to split.

Small cracks were already showing in the walls and Avalanche began to stop his attack as all the guards were now out cold after falling and cracking their heads on the concrete floor and walls. But luck was not on their side. The already dazed Scott couldn't handle the shaking and he fell to the floor also, completely knocking of his loose visor causing his uncontrollable energy beam to shoot from his eyes and into the wall opposite.

Walls and parts of the ceiling began to collapse immediately, already weakened by the earthquake that had occurred not long before.

Lance scrambled to put the protective visor back on his fallen "team-mate".

The lights began to flicker after being forced from their fixtures; the plan was officially going south.

_Shit._

**It's not the best I've ever done, and I might rewrite it in the future but I hope you enjoy it.**

**Review or I'll make you do my Theory of Knowledge Essay: To what extent does language affect our knowledge claims?**

**R&R**


	23. Victimised

**AN: Hmmm…. I'm really having trouble staying awake so please bear with me. So I can't actually remember when I last updated but I hope it wasn't too long ago. God my brain is turning to mush, I mean school is supposed to educate you, make you more intelligent etcetera etcetera but I swear the stress and work load is making me stupider. I kinda promised myself that I wouldn't become one of those writers that took ages to update but everything just keeps getting in the way, I haven't had more than 4 hours sleep every night for over 2 weeks. I hope you enjoy this chapter, I think it's gonna be good but while I' writing this AN I haven't actually finished writing it so even I don't know what's going to happen.**

**DISCLAIMER: **

**Roses are red**

**Violets are blue**

**I don't own Marvel**

**But neither do you**

**Mwahahahaha**

**Reviews: I love all of you very much, you really help on those days where I just can't be arsed or am having trouble writing. You really help the inspiration (especially when I'm supposed to be learning for a latin test)**

~"When the world is reduced to a single dark wood for our two pairs of dazzled eyes - to a beach for two faithful children - to a musical house for our clear understanding - then I shall find you." ~

~Arthur Rimbaud, _Les Illuminations~_

Stinging, burning, in his lungs, all over his skin.

Dark. Occasional sparks of light.

_Que l'enfer happened? _(What the hell happened?)

**~*FLASHBACK*~**

"_Ah love yah Swamp Rat"_

"_Ah love you too Cherie"_

**~*END FLASHBACK*~**

And then there was nothing. He had obviously been knocked out by something. What, he had no idea, but it must have been something big to have caused the chaos he was before him, his usual white, oppressive cell was a wasteland, collapsed concrete walls, clouds of dust, flames and sparks, twisted metal. He had to blink rapidly, his already injured eyes straining from the grit that was floating in the air. But through the gaping hole that had once been the wall separating him from his love he could see a similar scene. However he could see no-one in her cell.

_où est elle? _(Where is she?)

"Chere!....CHERE!" _No, no, no, no, no he just got her, he couldn't lose her, not after all they'd been through_

He scrambled into the remains of what was her cell and started clawing away at the rubble that covered the floor. If she was under there he would get her out. But as he continued to dig his way through the debris he could find no trace of her. Tears began to form in his eyes. Where was she? Is she Ok? Why isn't she here? Unanswerable questions flitted through his mind.

Blind panic was beginning to set in, when someone tackled him to the floor.

"Who are yah?" Questioned whoever was now on top of him. It was a woman, she was wearing on of the uniforms so she was a mutant, too thin but that was to be expected, meals weren't high on the priority lists for the their captives, the dirt that covered her face hid her features but her bight sparkling green eyes pierced through, right through to his very soul. The last thing that he noticed was her long, wavy auburn hair, unusual with the two shocking and dirty white stripes that framed her face.

"Well yah gunna answer, shuga, or am ah gonna have to beat it outa yah?" The familiar Southern accent fell from the lips of the beauty that had pinned him like honey.

"Well Chere, and 'ere Remy t'ought you loved 'im." He smirked, inwardly elated that his love was alright.

"Remy?" she jumped off him almost immediately, letting the Cajun get back to his feet before she almost bowled him over again, but this time to hug him.

"Yah're ok! I thought ah'd lost yah!"

"Not'ing can keep dis ol' Cajun down, or away from yah" he said squeezing her tighter "Yah beautiful Rogue, t'e most precious of gems and yet you stole dis t'iefs 'eart, I'll follow you anyw'ere for Ah 'ave no want to get it back just to be wit' you, Ah've never told anyone dis but Remy 'e love's yah."

"Ah know that swamp rat, Ah love you too" she replied smirking

"Good, t'ough yah mig't not like t'e way Ah turned out to look after all this time" he joked and yet he was anxious at the same time, it would be typical of the gods that the face that had made so many swoon before, repulsed the one that he loved.

"yah know yah hansom shuga, devilishly so, and Ah'm never gonna return yah heart, it's locked away safely with mine for they are one and the same, Ah can't survive without yah, ah wouldn't want to survive without yah." The kiss that followed was mind blowing for the both of them, full of love, acceptance and a sense of home that the two had been denied for a long time. Their embrace was long and as air was a necessity they eventually pulled apart.

Remy stared at his love, wondering at how the angel could fall for the devil and yet he saw the pain that lay lurking like dark storm clouds in her stunning eyes. He had to get her out of here.

The lighting was bad, occasionally flaring from the sparks emitted from broken electrics yet they could both see the giant hole that ripped through the wall that led out to the corridor. It was a chance. An unspoken agreement passed between the two Southern lovers and they started running towards it hands still entwined, not think anything except. Get out, together and alive, it doesn't matter where you're going, just get out.

***

"The blast's ripped all the way through the complex causing major structural damage, you said that everyone was accounted for right?"

Warren nodded

"Fine we're gonna go in, help the others evacuate, anyone that can be got out is helped. Don't purposely go of looking for Rogue, we'll find her, but we can't loose anyone else. Now if anything starts to go south, inform me and we'll pull out. Right, lets go." Ordered Wolverine, the plan had already messed up and now everyone was going to be in danger. Something bad was going to happen, he could just feel it, but he couldn't leave Rogue now, they were so close.

***

Storm lifted the 10 year old boy onto the jet, their were too many people their already but from the numbers Kitty had found in the control room there were only a few left to find, including Rogue. Trask was also missing, somewhere inside the complex, but they weren't worried about finding that monster, he'd get what was coming to him; it didn't matter whether that was today or not.

*Storm I we've found her* crackled a voice over the communicator breaking her from her thoughts.

*You sure*

*Yeah, she's with –BANG- Oh Crap!"

*What's going on!?!*

*Rogue she's – oh god – she's* Lance's voice was cut off suddenly; the communicator's line was dead.

***

***Would have cut off there but I know it's been way too long since I last updated***

Rogue and Remy were running. No direction, no knowledge of where they were going just a need to get out. Debris was falling randomly from the cracked ceiling, sparks flying out from raw wires, smoke obscuring everything.

The odd figure would appear, coming from cells or rooms that had been ripped open from whatever blast had granted them freedom but the couple would avoid them, no contact, and no problem.

They came to a crossroads. Three corridors and the one they just came from mocked their indecision. Remy pulled Rogue to him, another embrace, and a desperate attempt to keep her close so that his uncertainty was less daunting.

"Remy?"

"W'at do yah t'ink chere?"

"Straight on, there's got ta be an exit close by"

"After yah, mon Cherie" The Cajun smirked, it was a logical decision but even if she had decided that they should burrow their way out with a spoon he would have agreed.

"Chere?" Rogue turned her attention back to the man she loved. "ah love yah"

She smiled and kissed him again, the third in her life, getting lost in the sensation of perfection and wholeness that spread through her being.

Footsteps could be heard running down the corridor on their right, heading towards them.

"My God, that's –" _Lance?_

"What is that guy doing to her!?!" _Scott?_

The first voice was talking again but not to the second person, _maybe there was another person?_

"-~-~- found her"

"Remy" Rogue mumbled against Remy's lips. He pulled away with a pout already plastered all over his features.

"But you're just so irresistible, chere, I can't concentrate on the rest of the world while I'm around you"

Rogue smirked "Well –"

"As sickening as this reunion is I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut it short" This new voice froze the two mutants in their place. Trask. Afraid to turn around they stayed where they were, staring into each others eyes, willing away the world.

A crack or bang, Remy couldn't decide which, split the air, there was a moment of limbo in which the scene stood still, anticipation hanging in the air like a fog and then his love went slack in his arms. As she fell onto him, a dead weight, he caught sight of the suited man at the entrance to the corridor on the left, the one that had ripped apart their lives so many times he would make Satan turn in disgust, a satisfied smile gracing his visage. But this thought didn't register in his mind. Only one word echoed through his mind and then forced its way from Remy's lips in a heartbreaking cry.

"ROGUE!"

**REVIEW or I'll send goblins to come and eat your fingers and toes**

**I have no idea where that came from….need to up the dosage methinks**

**R&R **** my god this is totally random but I found a T-shirt the other day and on it it said "sexier than R&R" and all I thought was NO nobody is sexier than Remy. You are truly obsessed when that happens **

**Song for today: Child Psychology by Black Box Recorders or New Slang by The Shins**


	24. Weary

**AN: WOW so Christmas has been and gone and it is now 2010, a whole new decade, that's really kinda cool, makes you feel all futuristic. Plus THERE'S SNOW!! We never get snow, I'm sooo excited! So again it was a long time since my last update and I have no real excuse so I'm not going to insult y'all's intelligence and make one up, cause I love you guys, I've really just been more focused on reading than writing lately. I've also just realised that we're nearing the end of this fic and well…I really don't want it to end but I can't just leave you hanging so here's the next instalment. **

**DISCLAIMER: So I don't get sued…hmm…sued is a really weird word, come to think weird is a really weird word, that's appropriate, did you know one of my friends favourite words it elbow, I don't know why but if you saw it slow enough it is quite cool, and you sound like a retard, I wonder if anyone else has strange favourite words…do you, people I don't know, have any random favourite words? What about windowsill, I quite like that word, although I hate with a passion the word ooze. But I'm going off topic, as usual, but I do enjoy my tangents, even though they do make me sound even more insane, ANY WAY, I don't own X-men (which is a strange word too) even though I would love to, they are owned by Marvel, I only own the unimportant randomers that I've made up, unfortunately.**

**I LOVE YOU MY LOVELY REVIEWERS! I'm sorry I don't reply anymore but I figure that you'd prefer a story to a crazy girl's replies.**

**xxx**

~Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break.~

~William Shakespeare, If you don't know who this guy is I will have to disown you all, and probably kill you once I come into power~

"Can't this thing go any faster!?!" screamed the distraught Lance who was helping the strange mutant with the black and red eyes keep pressure on Rogue's wound. The mutant had refused to let go of her, cradling her small body to his and screaming at anyone who came to attempt to wrench her from his grasp. He would occasionally mutter things to her in French while stroking her face, his face contorted with an unknown pain.

"I'm going as fast as I can! You're not the only one who needs her to be Ok, that's my daughter back there!" Logan exclaimed right back, they were close to home where McCoy could help but they were still too far away, she was loosing too much blood and at this rate she would be gone by the time they got there.

The panic and tension was suffocating. Some were crying, clinging to each other for support, others, those who didn't know Rogue, were waiting fir this to all be a dream and that they were about to wake up at any moment for another round of torture. But they didn't.

Rogue battled on, her heartbeat growing weaker at every moment and the jet continued on its race to return to the Xavier mansion before she finally gave out.

***

"Oh my stars and garters," a shocked Dr McCoy uttered as a tall Cajun mutant rushed into his medical bay carrying Rogue who was still bleeding profusely.

"Dey say yah can 'elp! 'ELP!"

"Right of course, lay her down here...er… how can you touch her?" asked Beast while setting up the equipment he would need to save the young woman's life.

"She 'as control" replied the stranger shortly, his eyes were dead yet every time he looked a Rogue, who was now being prepped for surgery from the good doctor, they became alight with love, sorrow, longing and guilt.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Requested the blue man

Horror wracked through the Cajun's body

"No!" He screamed "Nonononononono, I told 'er I wouldn't leave 'er side, I promised, _mon ange_, I can't leave _mon amore_"

Strong arms grabbed him from behind to contain his struggling and dragged him from the room. Tears poured down his face as he screamed and cursed in every language he knew. But soon he was just screaming her name, the name of the one woman he loved.

He sunk to the ground outside the medical bay and cried. Pounding the ground with his already bloodied fists he felt his whole grasp on life slip away. The years of naive innocence, rebellious adolescence and opulence had all meant something when he had had his love but now it was slipping away and so was that meaning, that sureness. He would be nothing without her; he was never anything without her. He felt tired, tired of fighting, tired of living all he had wanted was to love and be loved in return and the cruel fates of the world was denying him that one wish.

But he was still fighting, fighting so that his love could live he just hoped that she was able to fight for herself because without her he would cease to be.

***

Dr Henry Phillip "Hank" McCoy had seen many horrors in his lifetime, the tings that people did to one another were truly sickening, but nothing prepared him for the dismay he had felt when the young Cajun man had brought Rogue into his medical bay. The wound that she had contracted was of course devastating, but the look o pure desperation and pain on the boy's face had almost broken his heart. He knew that the boy was in love with the Southern beauty and he seriously feared for what the stranger would do if he was unable to pull her through.

For the first time in all his years in the practice of medicine the heart monitor was annoying him. The occasional beeps were distracting as he tried to remove the shrapnel that littered the cavity caused by the bullet.

Each piece was harder to retrieve than the last and with her bright blood still sluggishly pooling in her wound every time a piece was removed his visibility was an issue also.

After some time every thing was removed and her began to stitch up the wounded areas. He finally bandaged the wound and began to pay, he had done all he could, it was up to the fates now.

"_Each man is the architect of his own fate _or at least I hope so little one, it would break us if fate cut your thread this soon, especially as you've just been returned to us."

***

It had been three days. Three days and she still hadn't woken up. Dr McCoy was starting to worry that due to the blood loss Rogue's brain had been starved of oxygen and it was possible she would never wake up. But Remy (they had finally learned the Cajun's name) refused to leave her side. Not to sleep nor eat, he spent every waking moment talking to her, just like he did through the wall back in Area 51.

"Gumbo, I need you to come with me, I want to have a little talk with you." Came the gruff commanding voice of the short Canadian mutant Wolverine.

Remy reluctantly kissed his beloved's forehead and followed him out the door, he had learnt earlier that it was better to get Wolverine's requests done quickly so that he could return to his Southern belle than resist and spend double the amount of time away from her.

"I think it's time you left Cajun." Opened Wolverine.

Remy stopped dead in his tracks "Non! Ah love Rogue, Ah'm not leaving 'er! Never!" the determination in his eyes would have convinced ordinary men that he was not to be argued with on this point, but Wolverine was no an ordinary man.

"We've already contacted your father, you'll be leaving tomorrow."

"Why? Why can't t'e world just leave us be? Why can't we be toget'er finally?" he pleaded

"Because she is not yours! You need to leave and get over her! You are no good for her! If it wasn't for you she never would have gotten hurt! Now you better leave when your family gets here or so help me God I will slice you and dice you so well that you really would be gumbo!"

The Cajun stood shocked. He knew that the other mutant was right. He had to be. Rogue coveted his opinion above everyone else's. _It must me true. _

He returned to the medical bay, to spend all of his remaining time with his River Rat.

Explaining that he loved her, he missed her and that he would never forget her. He explained why he was leaving, and that although she would no longer be in his sight, she would always be in his mind, and that he would always remain faithful to her. He begged that if she ever forgave him that she would come to see him in New Orleans. He pleaded with her to still love him when she woke up, even though he wasn't there, and to remember everything that they shared. But mostly he prayed that she would be happy and healthy.

When morning finally came around he went and waited for his family in the drive of the mansion, no longer wanting to torture himself with the hope that waiting in the medical bay gave to him. Hope that she would wake up and beg him not to leave. _Ahh espoir (hope) God's sick joke._

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep.

His family finally arrived a few hours later. The reunion was teary and heartfelt but Remy still felt hollow in his core, and a slight resentment towards them for taking him away from his one true love. But he still loved them all the same.

Beep……….Beep………Beep………Beep………Beep……...Beep……...Beep…….

_*Quick her pulse is dropping too fast, get the paddles ready! NOW! We're loosing her!*_

He said thank you to the X-men for their hospitality and wished them well before he slipped into the sleek black car that belong to his _pere_.

Beep……………………Beep...Beep…Beep…………………Beep…………………

He glanced once more at the huge building I which his love was currently residing as he whispered her a final goodbye.

...

_*She's gone*_

**Don't worry, this isn't the end yet, still a couple of chapters to go.**

**REVIEW! Or "I kill you!"**

**Hanks quote was by Appius Claudius a Roman Politician **


	25. Xenophobia

**AN: *sigh* silence…**_**finally**_**. The voices are gone for the moment so I felt that I should update, especially as I was so cruel last time and left you with that terrible cliff hanger. But first you must listen to by rambling, as per usual and I have some things to say to you guys. First, thank you for my over 400 reviews, a personal record, you are all by far my favourite fans, my other work doesn't get nearly as much praise. Secondly, unfortunately this fic is almost over and in order to end it I need to know whether you would like a sequel or not. I rather like it as a stand alone piece but I would like to know so I'm putting a poll together and you need to vote! **_**Troisième **_**I have a friend who has set up a forum and they have asked me to spread the word therefore if you can, I'd like y'all to check out .net it discusses general fan-culture such as fiction and art instead of focusing on specific works. It's really great and I hope you check it out and enjoy it. **_**Enfin **_**we need some comedy because that's all boring admin stuff therefore…drumroll please…two muffin's are in an oven, one muffin says to the other "Phew, it's hot in here" the other says "Holy Crap! A talking muffin!" *Bu dum tsh***

**DISCLAIMER: Dude did you know that The Walt Disney Company now owns Marvel Comics? I found out while I was looking up the owner so I could make some witty joke about me being the owner and then the really owner coming to beat me to a pulp because I really don't. Anyway do you know how much they paid for it?...no? well I'm gonna tell you, $4.24 billion! Do I look like I'm someone with that kind of cash, heck no! Course I don't bloody own the X-Men, who do you think I am? Bill Gates? X-Men and all its affiliated characters belong to well…The Walt Disney Company now, so I guess that's…actually who owns Disney, it's not Walt cause he's dead and frozen, hmm… *wikipedia-ing* oh! Its some guy called Robert Iger. Ok…so…in summary that Iger guy owns X-men and not me.**

**Reviews: Thanks for all your favourite words to those that answer my question, I especially loved Mayachan2007 with inconspicuous that is a truly amazing word. Thank you all for supporting this fic and I hope you continue to review until the end. **

**Hehe hope you enjoy the show**

~Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering."~

~ Paulo Coelho, Brazilian novelist, 1947 – present)

Remy LeBeau was speeding through the French Quarter on his recently acquired motorcycle. A little something to make himself feel closer to Rogue after remembering one of there conversations in which she had told him that she loved the feeling of freedom whenever she stole Logan's bike back at the mansion.

But the closeness that the bike brought didn't fill the emptiness that now consumed him. It felt as though someone had ripped away part of his very soul, all that was left was hollowness, no pain, just numbness. But he could feel the emotion coming, a calm before the storm of despair and anguish. So in the meantime all he could do was wait for news, of anything and everything about his beloved that he had been forced to leave.

But now he was on his way to a meeting with his _pere_, they had a job for him, it was a welcome back to the fold and he was scared, not of the job of course, it was simple, he was scared of getting caught again, he wouldn't survive this time, going back to that place. He had prayed so many times for death but instead he was granted an angel that had kept him together and sane and with that he was captivated by the beauty of her spirit and the richness of her voice. But once again his _ange _had been ripped from him and all he was left with were reminders of his love for her.

They were everywhere, loving couples embracing on the streets mocked his separation from his _chere_, the gardens of the houses he passed were her clear, sparkling eyes, children laughing forced him to recall the sound that he had so craved while locked away in the pit of despair where they had met. Even the sound of the people around him breathing forced him back to the times he had been so beaten and in so much pain that he couldn't sleep that all he could do was listen to the sound of Rogue sleeping to help him remember that there was beauty in the world and that he needed to keep going and survive for her.

He finally reached the rundown old building in which the meeting was being held, it was very different to lavish grand halls in which these types of meeting were usually held but the constant attacks from The Assassins meant that secrecy was of even greater importance. At least it was something more to distract himself from his self pitying thoughts, if only for a little while.

Upon reaching the heavy steel door the familiar voice of Jules, a fellow thief who was used more for intimidation than skill, called out the first part of the pass code "_It is the hour of departure, Oh abandoned one_!" Remy winced as he replied with his own part "Yes but _stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage_"

A booming laugh echoed from the other side of the door and once it had been heaved open Remy deftly slipped inside, greeted by a bear hug and a clap on the back.

"It's been too long, _mon ami_"

"Apologies Jules, Remy's been previously engaged," deadpanned the Prince of Thieves, purposely creating the barrier between himself and the others. This was no longer his home, he may still crave the busy streets and the familiarity of its diversity that welcomed him like a mother would welcome their son, but he had learned that his only home, his one true home was wherever his _amore _was.

***

Darkness was everywhere, permeating the very air as the lithe thief slipped through the shadows like a ghost, unseen and unheard, searching for his prize. The silence was oppressing in the huge hallways of the museum with the ever staring eyes of the portraits that lined the walls following him as he made his way through the gallery area.

So many treasures, so many riches arranged around him but as usual he was searching for one thing in particular. A ring. One of the most sough after and expensive pieces of jewellery in the entire world. Not because of the size or qualities of the jewels, but because of who had worn it.

A white emeralds with green emeralds set on either side apparently it had been worn on the hand of the Egyptian Goddess Isis herself as a gift from Osiris and that it bound those who gifted to each other together for eternity. However the Guild cared nothing for this, all they understood was that they could sell it for a good $2 million if they wanted, thus Remy LeBeau, Prince of Thieves was currently hanging above the case that held the ring from a wire that was keeping him attached to the ceiling.

_Pressure sensitive alarm system, elementary, simple, almost insultin'_

All it took was a quick switch, replacing the ring with a broach that carried the insignia of the Thieves' Guild, a small token to "play" with the authorities. With movements almost too quick for the human eye the Cajun slipped from the building the same way he went in, third floor, second window from the left.

Leaving the bike in the parking lot of a small liquor store Remy opted to walk back to the checkpoint. After a couple of blocks he fished in his trench coat for the ring, it sparkled in the light given off from a streetlamp and he sighed, another reminder, another crushing tug at his heart.

He rounded a corner and drunken laughing exploded from the building on his left.

"_frère__! Tu change d'avis? _(Brother! Change your mind?) Henri slurred as he stumbled out of the bar

"_Non, _Remy's just out for a walk" sighed the despondent younger brother

"Ready fah _ton cambriolage _tomorrow?" (your heist) This teased a smirk out of Remy.

"Remy's always ready _frère plus âgé," _(Older brother)

"You kno-" Henri attempted to reply before he almost tripped over his own feet, Remy catching him before he landed on his arse.

Both men chuckled as the demon eyed man patted his brother on the shoulder

"_en la matin frère, en la matin" _(In the mourning brother, in the mourning)

"In a w'ile crocodile!" Called the inebriated Cajun thief after the retreating figure who was still chuckling at his brother's antics.

He reached the safe house quickly after that, although he had gone off timetable he still adhered to protocol, after every job, no matter small, you always return to a safe house for the night to make sure that you haven't been made. Once he was inside he finally able to fully relax, there was no way anyone but a thief could get in, smirking at the irony of the situation he threw himself onto the small bed tucked away in the corner of the threadbare room. He had successfully completed yet another heist, but the usual thrill of triumph and accomplishment was somehow muted, the same as everything else ever since he had been parted from his _chere. _

The heartbroken man removed his signature trench coat while taking the newly acquired ring from one of its many hidden pockets. Once again he looked at it and contemplated the eyes that its jewels were so similar to, that they so strived to be and yet failed, they were too cold, too dead, his love's _yeux _(eyes) were warm, loving, alive and sparkled with their own light, the light of the fire in her soul. After while of this continued self torture Remy yawned and his unique eyes fluttered closed as he fell asleep still clutching the priceless ring in his clenched fist.

He stood in a dark, barren landscape, wisps of smoke and mist swirling around him at times coming together as though they were attempting to take a defined shape and form but then they would disperse, leaving no trace that they were their in the first place. The sense of a presence made itself known and Remy whipped round to find it but it was nowhere to be seen. There was just the nothingness that surrounded him but the presence, this sense of raw, twisted power still oppressed his senses. It crushed down on him with such force that it felt as though his chest was going to collapse forcing the Cajun to his knees while attempting to scream at the pain that was clenching at his heart, his eyes screwed shut he willed himself to wake up. He continued to scream but no noise was leaving his mouth. Everything began to spin around him, faster and faster until a small, gentle hand touched his shoulder and he whirled round to face the new threat.

But instead of the terrifying image of a night creature there was the smiling face of his _amore. _

"Whatcha doin'? yah silly swamp rat" she teased.

"Not'ing ma chere" a bewildered Remy choked out.

"Good cause, tag, yah're it!" with a small peck on the lips she ran off laughing, her hair shining in the afternoon sun. Remy watched her for a while before running after her.

The landscape had completely changed, where before it had been a barren landscape, with the only things visible being smoke and dust, now it was a lush green garden with a fountain in the centre. The grounds were huge and they were not the only ones there in fact, and they were all mutants, bursts and flashes of powers being used could be seen every so often. He was at the mansion. But he didn't care for that right now, he just took off running after the Southern Belle that had stolen his heart.

She had kept on running right off into the trees, disappearing from his view, a feeling of dread settled in his stomach, he had had this part of the dream before. He knew the inevitable end where he would run after her until "something" came after him and he would wake up drenched in sweat. But he still took off after her, just because he knew that he was doomed to fail, didn't meant that he was going to admit it, he would find her.

He hadn't been in the woods long before he realised that something was off, usually there was screaming now, but everything was quiet, eerily so. He decided to keep running, obviously his mind had come up with a new scenario for once, it was starting to get a bit clichéd.

But once again the landscape was starting to change, the trees were beginning to thin and the dirt on the ground was starting to shift beneath his feet, becoming grainier with every step. A desert. He was now battling his way through a desert, and Rogue was nowhere to be seen. Instead there was a small ten year-old friend boy with jarringly blue eyes.

"The monarchs were separated so the queen has died and the hearts will break" said the boy in a monotone voice

"_Monaques_? What monarc's? W'ere's Rogue?" Remy was panicked, he had no idea what was going on, but he had the feeling that the boy wasn't supposed to be in his dream, he wasn't from his mind at all.

"The Rose of the South, such beauty but untouchable with such deadly thorns, the red queen, the queen of hearts, the queen has gone." A slight melancholy tone crept into the boy's voice, but his haunting eyes stayed staring, unmoved straight ahead.

"W'at! Rogue's dead! W'at? 'ow? Why?" Horror gripped him, it had finally happened, he knew that she would be ripped from him he just hoped that he'd left before that could happen.

"The monarchs were separated" said the boy matter of factly.

"Who are t'e monarc's?" repeated Remy, frustrated by the boy's riddles.

"The ruler's of the hearts" the meaning of his words suddenly popped into the Cajun's mind, how many times had he called himself the king of hearts and Rogue his queen?

_"Moi?_ S'e died...because Ah left? No! Rogue! _Mon amor_!" anguish once again gripped his heart.

"The foretold has been broken; it must be rectified if the one will rise" the boys eyes started to become unfocused, staring straight over the thief's shoulder.

"Ah can get 'er back! 'ow? Tell me! Ah'll do anyt'ing!" a strange emotion had taken hold of Remy, he was buzzing, ready to run to the ends of the earth and back, ready to sell his soul if he had to, anything to bring back the one that he love and who loved him back.

"Isis raised Osiris, so then she can grow the rose through her green power" something flickered in the eyes of the boy, as though something was fighting to resurface, but Remy shook it off.

"Green power? Isis?...wait Isis....t'e ring....t'e ring can brin' 'er back" He would never dismiss a myth ever again. If the ring brought his river rat back he would tattoo Isis's name all over his body in worship and thanks.

The boy smiled "yes the ring can grow the rose" If it was possible the boy's eyes began to glow, a cold, dead blue emanating from what seemed a cold, dead soul. But he could be all that bad could he? He was just a _garcon _and he had given him a way to bring back Rogue.

He then reached forwards to touch Remy on the shoulder, as soon as the boy's hand touched his arm Remy woke with a start, the boys cold, blue eyes, almost glowing, were burned into his eyes.

**REVIEW or I'll force you to listen to bad violin playing until your ears bleed!**

**Quotes: Pablo Neruda and Richard Lovelace (both poets)**


	26. AN PLEASE READ

**To all my minions and follower,**

**I thought that I should explain my absence. Basically I'm having a minor crisis of faith.**

**For a while I was just busy and couldn't get around to writing anything and then it developed into a huge case of writer's block. Everything that I have tried to write comes out sounding, trite or completely lacking in any life or inspiration. I've been putting it down to stress as I'm about to start my final year of school and well everyone in the UK will understand this whole university places crisis that's going on. Hopefully I'll be able to find some time to really sit down and focus on my writing soon because I love this fic and I love all of my readers you've all been great and really supportive throughout the whole process so for that I thank you.**

**Please don't take this as me announcing this fic as being postponed or cancelled or anything, it's exactly the opposite this fic is a "bear with me while I get my life in order plea" because I really want to go forward with it. **

**I hope that I can get something out sometime soon.**

**I love you all,**

**bloodandvanity**

**xxx**


	27. Yearning

**AN: Well Hi *shy wave* it's now 2011 and it's been over a year since I last updated for which I am very sorry but for the last year my life has been kinda up in the air. I am currently in my last 2 weeks of school (high school senior year for all you Yanks) and all I have left to do are my final exams for my IB in May. I Just got into a couple Foundation Year in Art a week ago and was about to sit down and write an English essay and this came spewing forth. It has been so long since I wrote something that I was beginning to think that I'd lost it, but sitting here listening to Murder by Death and continuing the journey of Remy and Rogue came as easy as riding a bike so I had to share it with you all straight away. I will be surprised if you all remember me my minions and acolytes but I hope that you do and I hope that you enjoy this passage. There is still one to go and you may have to wait 'till May for it to arrive but I have not forgotten you and I promise I will finish this fic, if it's the last thing my crazy ass does. **

**DISCLAIMER:**

**Me: I'm sure it's here somewhere, YES! Here it is *she says after having rooted around her room for the past hour* See Scary Official Looking Man! I do own Remy here are the documents to prove it! **

**SOLM: You do realise that this is just a doodle of him hugging you that you've signed "Love Remy LeBeau"**

**Me: Er...*serious face*...These are not the droids you're looking for...**

**SOLM: Yeah, No...Tell the truth**

**Me: Fine I don't own Remy or the X-men only the creepy Omen boy...why do I get saddled with the scary people?**

**SOLM: Because you invented them...maybe that's a reflection of your own character...**

**ME: Shut up *pout***

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed and enjoy...**

Do not stand at my grave and weep;  
I am not there.  
I do not sleep.  
I am a thousand winds that blow.  
I am the diamond glints on snow.  
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.  
I am the gentle autumn's rain.  
When you awaken in the morning's hush,  
I am the swift uplifting rush  
Of quiet birds in circled flight.  
I am the soft stars that shine at night.  
Do not stand at my grave and cry;  
I am not there.  
I did not die.

~Mary Frye, American poet, 1905-2004~

The room was crowded, full to capacity. For such an apparent loner the number of people who had come to pay their respects was astounding. Each had a kind word to say about the girl with the striped hair Kitty just wished that they could have shared their love while she was alive. Now that Rogue was dead all their well wishing seamed false, just because she had been hard to approach while she was still breathing didn't mean that she didn't need their support, their kindness, their love and now they were ready to give it by the boatload, she wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to shout in all their faces that they never deserved her attention that Rogue was so much better than them all together that she had earned more than a pine box in the ground, she should have had love and a family with that boy with red eyes. She would never have that now. All Rogue was now was a memory of drawling, sarcastic voice with warm, broken eyes.

The casket at the front of the room was the most terrifying thing that Logan had ever seen. He could withstand torture, battles and even PMSing teenage girls but the sight of his Stripes in a coffin shook him to the very core. It should never have happened this way. She was supposed to get better, she was supposed to have a chance to have a life but it had all been cut short because of some psychotic bigot. Wolverine knew that being a mutant was hard and that Rogue had drawn one of the shortest straws he'd ever seen when it came to her powers and past, but somehow she had managed to stay strong, she was able to get through it with a sense of humour to boot but the world had to crush her. Any strip of sunshine in her life the world had crushed and now it had destroyed her taking his sunshine with it. Now all that was left was to try and recover. He was leaving. As soon as the funeral had finished he was going to be on his bike, he was heading back to the mountains, maybe if he had solitude, prevented himself from getting close to anyone he couldn't be hurt and he'd be able to mourn his little girl in peace. The only family he'd ever wanted who had been prematurely ripped from him.

To any onlooker the funeral was a beautiful service. There were funny stories from Rogue's lifetime, moving poems, solemn prayers and stunning flower arrangements expressing people's sorrow her death but to anyone involved it was the worst day of their life.

Rogue was a constant; a pillar that they had clung to for a snarky remark to make whatever problem seem less important by immediately putting things into perspective, someone who judged no one because she had had that too many times in her lifetime and knew how it could crush the soul. She was even someone who knew how to make their food just the way their mother had or could tune their ride to perfection because she had a way of making machines speak to her even though she'd never had a lesson on fixing cars in her life. She was present everywhere and now she was gone...a ghost...a whisper and a corpse.

Kurt was at the podium. It was his turn and he didn't know what to say. How could anyone else comprehend what he was feeling? He had lost his sister. God was laughing at him She had just been returned to them and like a petty child God had decided that he could have anyone being happy, that no, they could not have their untouchable girl back, no, she had to be taken from them.

He looked out at the faces in the crowd before him and saw their sorrow, their grief and realised that he was wrong. They did know what he felt; they too were Rogue's brothers and sisters, surrogate parents and best friends. They had lost family today. He felt himself lose control of the tears that he had kept in check since her death had been announced. No more German stoicism, he broke down in front of everyone that he cared about because no matter what they said, what they felt what they did his sister would never ruffle his hair again or chuckle at his antics or carefully let him hug her even though the thought of hurting him terrified her beyond belief. Tears fell from his eyes and sobs escaped his chest as he clutched to her cold hand. She had such soft delicate skin and this thought made him weep even more. The first time that he could safely touch his own sister was the last time he would ever see her, in that damned open casket.

The blue boy felt someone try to release his hands from the death grip that he was using to clutch at his sister's hand. But he held on tighter he couldn't letter her go. They couldn't take her from him. The hole where his insides used to be couldn't be real she wasn't dead. It was all just a joke that she was playing on him. She always did have a warped sense of humour. But the unknown person pulled him away and he screamed and screamed.

"_MEINE SCHWESTE! SIE NICHT WEITER GEHEN! ÜBERLASSEN MICH! GAUNER! LEBEN_!" (my sister! You can't go! Don't leave me! Rouge! Live!)

But she didn't wake up or spontaneously start breathing, she stayed lying there deathly pale, unmoving and uncaring to his pleas. After being removed so forcefully from his sister's body Kurt retreated to the right had corner, furthest away from the casket. Hugging his knees, rocking himself gently as san an old German lullaby to himself, the song that Rogue had learned specifically for him so that the days when he got so homesick that he would only speak in German would be more bearable.

"_Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf.__  
__Der Vater hüt't die Schaf.__  
__Die Mutter schüttelt's Bäumelein,__  
__Da fällt herab ein Träumelein.__  
__Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf!"_

The room grew quiet once more, except for Kurt quiet singing, almost a whisper adding an almost eerie soundtrack to the heart wrenching occasion.

"_Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf."_

As Charles Xavier surveyed the room her realised that everything was wrong. Even through his dream of a safe-haven was incomplete he had always prided himself on being able to provide a happy home for the few mutants that he was able to save and that had all been taken away from him in one fell swoop.

_"Am Himmel ziehn die Schaf.__  
__Die Sternlein sind die Lämmerlein,"_

As he wheeled himself to the front of the room he saw the devastation on the faces of the people around him. Maybe if he'd been less vocal, if he'd drawn less attention to his X-men and the work that they were trying to achieve those monsters would never have discover Rogue and she would still be in their lives. Maybe just maybe.

But maybe wasn't good enough.

_"Der Mond, der ist das Schäferlein.__  
__Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf!"_

"Rogue had a fire that most people could only dream of. She was able to withstand the multitude of knocks that life dealt her a still stand strong with determination in her eyes and a sarcastic joke on her lips...What I will miss most will not be her ability to make a joke in any situation, nor her perchance of trouble or even her amazing Southern cooking it will be her unfailing optimism.

"_Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf."_

To many of you she was the depressed pessimist who had accepted her place as the untouchable girl who had to constantly wrap herself in physical and psychological barriers to prevent others and herself from harm. Yet she always managed to pick others up off the ground, dust them down and return their confidence all the while managing to keep up the illusion that she cared for nothing and no-one. She still tried. She always tried to get control, to conquer her fears because all she wanted was to be loved, for there to no longer be any more hurt, to have a family. In the end she achieved her control, but I only hope that she knew she was loved, she did have a family. My greatest fear is that we failed her. That through everything that she endured that she still felt alone...because this girl deserved love, she deserved a family and for her to leave us without knowing that would be the greatest tragedy of all.

We will miss you Rogue, the untouchable wild rose. You will always have a place in our hearts. You make us strive to be better and I hope that one day we will be worthy of your memory, that one day when we meet again, as I know we will, that you will forgive us for any pain that we caused you because we all love you. I only hope, that wherever you are you know that..."

_"So schenk' ich dir ein Schaf."_

The whole room was so focused upon the Professor as he made is speech that they didn't notice the man that entered at the back of the room.

If any religious human had been there at that moment they would have sworn that a real lie demon had come to take their soul from the appearance of who stood before them. The man stood completely dishevelled , his clothes were covered in dust from travelling and ripped in areas as though he had fought through Hell to be standing there. His hair stood in complete disarray, falling in every direction with some parts standing on end yet it was not enough to cover his face. On any other day girls would have swooned at this man's features, perfect yet in a manly, rugged way, but at this moment the pain and sorrow that was etched into his face caused the insides of any onlooker to run cold while wondering what had happened to cause such devastation and hurt. The small gash on his cheek was still oozing blood even though it looked days old. However it was the manic glint in his red on black eyes that made him seem demonic. They burned with a light so desperate it warned any person in his way that he would not hesitate to destroy anything that stood in his way while the faint crackling pink energy that surrounded his gloves confirmed it.

_"Mit einer goldnen Schelle fein,__  
__Das soll dein Spielgeselle sein."_

"_Mon Coeur"_(my heart)the man whispered. He walked towards his goal with the gait of a man who had been travelling on a motorcycle too long. When he reached the body of his love the reality of the situation crashed over him in a new wave of grief and loss as tears began to stream down his face landing on the smooth, pale skin of the girl that lay before him.

"_J'ai un cadeau pour vous _River Rat" (I have a present for you) he whispered and slipped something onto the Southern Beauty's ring finger. As he stepped away those at the front could see that it was a ring. Le Diable Blanc placed a light kiss on the girl's lips, waited and prayed.

He was just as shocked as the rest of the room when a low hum filled the room. Tendrils of green snaked out from the ring and encased Rogue in its light, growing brighter and brighter until it was too painful to look straight at it. Once the light faded away nothing was different. Rogue still lay there unmoving in the casket.

"_Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf."_

Silence reigned as Kurt finished up his song. There was a lull and suddenly the body lifted itself up as Rogue gasped for air, coughing and spluttering. As soon as her head fell back onto the satin cushion of the coffin lining her eyes snapped up and locked onto the face of her love as chaos broke out.

"What took you so long Swamp Rat?" croaked out the girl that had just been snatched from Death's icy grip.

Watching the pandemonium inside the mansion a familiar, young boy with cold, blue eyes let out a chilling chuckle. The plan was coming into fruition. His master would be pleased...

**REVIEW or I'll make you go through the Hell that is applying to University! **

**Translation of the German lullaby:**

**(Sleep, baby, sleep.  
Your father tends the sheep.  
Your mother shakes the branches small,  
Lovely dreams in showers fall.  
Sleep, baby, sleep.**

**Sleep, baby, sleep.  
Across the heavens move the sheep.  
The little stars are lambs, I guess,  
And the moon is the shepherdess.  
Sleep, baby, sleep.**

**Sleep, baby, sleep.  
I'll give to you a sheep.  
And it shall have a bell of gold  
For you to play with and to hold.  
Sleep, baby, sleep.)**


End file.
